Schoolcraft | Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge..., 1860, 6 vols, contemporary half morocco gilt, the Brayton Ives copy

From the Library of Clayre and Jay Michael Haft

Henry R. Schoolcraft

Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge... of the Indian Tribes of the United States. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1860

6 volumes, 4to (314 x 242mm.), half-titles, additional engraved titles, 327 plates, some hand-coloured, comprising views (after Seth Eastman), costume, artifacts and maps (one folding), contemporary red half morocco gilt over marbled boards by R. Calvert, top edges gilt, others uncut, marbled endpapers, extremities slightly rubbed

THE COPY OWNED BY BRAYTON IVES, NOTABLE BOOK COLLECTOR AND ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE GROLIER CLUB. Schoolcraft (1793-1864), founder of the Michigan Historical Society, was commissioned by Congress in 1847 to produce this work from the Indian Bureau Reports. Although the work lacks scientific structure, it has great value in preserving a wealth of data which might otherwise have been lost to modern students of language, folklore and history, together with a series of plates illustrating weapons and other artifacts.

LITERATURE:

Sabin 77839

PROVENANCE:

Brayton Ives (1840-1914): book label; his sale, 5 March 1891, lot 879