Description
The second edition of Information, Respecting The History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States by Henry R. Schoolcraft, complete in six volumes. Two volumes are presentation copies.
Quarto, [six volumes]. Bound in original purple-grey cloth, title in gilt on spine of each volume, stamped in blind on each cover, illustration of Native American on front cover in gilt. All with some rubbing to cloth, some sunning to spines. All six volumes include the half-title. Lacking front endpaper in Volume I. Engraved title page in Volume I-IV, frontispiece in Volume VI.
Volume I: complete with 76 engraved plates, including 3 full-page maps, many illustrations in color; Volume II: from the first edition, published in 1852, complete with 79 full page engraved plates, including 6 maps, many in color, a few with foxing to tissue covers; Volume III: complete with 42 engraved plates, including 4 maps, many in color. Dampstain to foredge of text block with limited impact to plates; Volume IV: complete with 42 engraved plates, including 3 maps, numerous hand-colored; Volume V: complete with 34 plates and fold-out maps; Volume VI: complete with 58 plates, including frontispiece portrait of H. Schoolcraft. Many with foxing to tissue cover, browning to plates, occasional foxing within text block.
(Sabin 77855) (Howes S183b) (Field 1379). A monumental work
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864) was commissioned by Congress in 1846 to develop a comprehensive report on the condition of American Indian tribes. He commissioned artist Seth Eastman to illustrate the book. His work relied heavily on his experience as an Indian agent in the new Michigan territory and his ability to translate the Ojibwe language into English. The final work was published in 1851 by J.B. Lippincott & Co, comprising six volumes. It is praised for its meticulous details of Native American life and culture, and for the detail of the illustrations, but lacks an index and is often thought to be disorganized.