History of the Indian Tribes of North America, with Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs. Embellished with One Hundred and Twenty Portraits, from the Indian Gallery in the Department of War, at Washington [COMPLETE IN 2 VOLUMES]

Kent: Volair Limited, 1978. First edition thus. Quarto. xxviii,470pp. 534,[5]pp. Finely gold-tooled leather in original brown cloth slipcase. All gilt edges. Raised bands. Ribbon marker. Silk-moire endpapers. Color frontispiece in Vol. I. Stunningly illustrated work by T. L. McKenney on American Indian Chiefs.

Thomas Lorraine McKenney (1785 - 1859) was a United States official who served as Superintendent of Indian Trade and later as Head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In the mid 1820's he went West to observe Indian tribes attempting to collect artifacts & portraits of notable native Americans. After this endeavor proved somewhat disappointing he commissioned Charles Bird King (1785 - 1862) to paint portraits of visiting Indian delegates in his Washington studio. The portraits were published in lithograph form in folio format in 1836 - 1844, accompanied with essays & biographies by James Hall (1793 - 1868). Hall was a popular author of Western topics. The spectacular lithographic plates are reproduced in this publication in smaller format. The majority of paintings were done by King, some by Peter Rindisbacher (1806 - 1834), as well as some other artists. "For this edition by Volair, which makes use of modern reproduction technology, the beast features of the folio and octavo editions are combined. The portraits come from an original folio edition published by Frederich W. Greenough (1838-44). A remarkable feature of these portraits is that they include six by the renowned English lithographer, Charles Hullmandel. Normally found only in the uncompleted European edition by Campbell, these extremely rare lithographs are as follows: War Dance of the Sauks and Foxes (Vol. I, frontispiece), Red Jacket (Vol. I, pg. 7), Mohongo (Vol. I, pg. 27), Shingaba W'Ossin (Vol. I, pg. 151), Pushmataha (Vol. I, pg. 183), and Kish-Kallo-Wa (Vol. I, pg. 449)....The text of the Volair edition comes from the first octavo edition published by the lithographer J. T. Bowen (1848-50). For some reason, Bowen rearranged the sequence of the portraits and biographical sketches. The Volair edition necessarily follows the revised arrangement; the only difference is that it is bound into two volumes instead of three."

Minor fraying on slipcase which remains very sound. Books in fine condition (as new). Elaborate publication in a stunning binding.