Catlin, George

Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio. Hunting Scenes and Amusements of the Rocky Mountains and Prairies of America. London: Geo. Catlin, Egyptian Hall [but Henry Bohn] (C. & J. Adlard, printers of text), 1844 [or 1845]



Broadsheets (23 1/2 x 18 1/2 in.; 595 x 470 mm). 25 handcolored lithographed plates after Catlin by Catlin and McGahey, lithographed by Day and Haghe, plates printed before letters, heightened with gum arabic and mounted on card within ink-ruled frames, letterpress title-page and 9 leaves of text; title-page spotted, some text leaves finger-soiled, faintest foxing to plate 6, edges of some card mounts lightly discolored. Plates loose as issued, text sewn in modern flexible red cloth. Plates and text contained in a half red morocco portfolio, with ribbon ties, by Sangorski in the style of the publisher's original portfolio; extremities rubbed.

Purchased from Peter Decker, 1956 (invoice laid in)

Abbey, Travel 653; Field 258; McCracken 10; Reese issue I:3; Sabin 11532; Wagner-Camp 105a:1

Broadsheets (23 1/2 x 18 1/2 in.; 595 x 470 mm). 25 handcolored lithographed plates after Catlin by Catlin and McGahey, lithographed by Day and Haghe, plates printed before letters, heightened with gum arabic and mounted on card within ink-ruled frames, letterpress title-page and 9 leaves of text; title-page spotted, some text leaves finger-soiled, faintest foxing to plate 6, edges of some card mounts lightly discolored. Plates loose as issued, text sewn in modern flexible red cloth. Plates and text contained in a half red morocco portfolio, with ribbon ties, by Sangorski in the style of the publisher's original portfolio; extremities rubbed.
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First edition, third (first Bohn) issue; the first issue with the plates handcolored and mounted on card. The Levy copy is from the second handcolored issue, following a few copies with the plates printed on full sheets of paper, unmounted, and published by Catlin himself. Production of the Portfolio so severely taxed the artist's resources that its publication and distribution were very shortly taken over by Henry Bohn. Catlin initially planned to publish a series of thematic portfolios based on paintings from his Indian Gallery—including religious rites, dances, and costumes—but the set of Hunting Scenes and Amusements was the only project that came to fruition.

"These beautiful scenes in Indian life are probably the most truthful ever presented to the public" (Field) and are the result of Catlin's eight years of field research and painting among the native peoples of the American West. In a famous passage from the preface, Catlin describes how the sight of an Indian delegation, probably Pawnee and Oto, passing through Philadelphia led to his resolution to record their vanishing way of life: "The history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worth the lifetime of one man, and nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country and becoming their historian."