Lot 65
65
EDWARD S. CURTIS

Details
EDWARD S. CURTIS

The North American Indian, Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska

Cambridge, MA., 1907-30. A complete set Number 180, from an edition of approximately 272 of the proposed edition of 500. Comprised of 20 text Volumes, containing approximately 1524 small-format photogravures, 4 maps and 2 diagrams; and 20 accompanying Portfolios, containing approximately 723 large-format photogravures; the whole printed on Van Gelder Holland paper, many bearing the Van Gelder Zonan watermark. Edited by Frederick Webb Hodge, Field Research conducted under the patronage of J. Pierpont Morgan and Foreword by Theodore Roosevelt. This copy signed and dated 1907 by Curtis in ink on the Introduction page; signed in ink by Theodore Roosevelt on the Foreword page. Each text volume numbered 180 in ink, vols. I-XIV with H. Blackwell stamp, vol. XV with Whitman Bennett stamp, and vols. XVI-XX with Plimpton Press stamp on the Justification page. Library label affixed to inside front cover of Volumes 2 and 3 and Portfolios 1-16. 1907-30. 40 volumes: 4to (text and small-format photogravures in 20 Volumes), bound in original half-brown morocco, gilt-lettered spines and top edges gilt; large folio (supplementary large plates in 20 Portfolios), bound in half-brown morocco, with gilt-impressed portfolio number. Limited edition number 180. The set contained in a custom-designed period 3-section oak and glass cabinet. Accompanied by the original subscription agreement dated November 25, 1910 and inscribed Roosevelt Autographed foreword with Edition in ink and 4 letters of correspondence between Curtis and the original subscriber, 3 signed in ink by Curtis on letterhead imprinted personal stationary. (40)
Provenance
M. Prager, Seattle, WA
R. Earl Weed, Coos Bay, Oregon, until 1959
Property of an Institution, WA
Literature
See The Life and Times of a Shadowcatcher and The Truthful Lens for more detailed information concerning the project.

Lot Essay

Curtis, in a letter dated May 27, 1911 wrote to the subscriber upon sending Volumes 6-8: Each volume completed and published brings me that much closer to the goal set for myself, and the fruition of my life ambition. What one can do in the months and years to come is but one of the unanswered questions of life, but the book for which the last picture is made and the final word written, becomes a certainty and a never-ending part of a record of a race. No action of mine can change it in any respect, and every finished volume of the series adds to the value of all former ones, as the structure is just that much stronger; and as each published volume comes to you, I am certain you will grasp more fully the scope of the work, as well as my plans and hopes.

Of the 222 subscriber sets, less than 100 were printed on Van Gelder Holland paper.