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Edward S. Curtis began his career as a portrait photographer in Seattle in 1891, the same year that the U.S. Bureau of Census officially declared the frontier closed. His dream, to document in text and photographs every Indian tribe west of the Mississippi, came to fruition through a fortunate encounter with a few men devoted to naturalism and ethnography whom he rescued from the peak of Mount Rainier in 1898 - Gifford Pichot, the Chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, C. Hart Merriam, the Chief of the U.S. Division of Biological Survey, and George Bird Grinnell, an acknowledged expert on Plains Indians and the editor of Field & Stream.
Within two years, Curtis was invited to accompany Grinnell to Montana to study the Blackfoot and Algonquin tribes; and the following year he accompanied Merriam on the Harriman expedition to Alaska, as the expedition's official photographer. Fortuitously in 1904, his portrait skills came to the attention of Theodore Roosevelt, whose children Curtis photographed for 'The Prettiest Children in American' contest sponsored by Ladies Home Journal. Subsequently, Roosevelt lent his support to Curtis by not only arranging an introduction to the formidable J.P. Morgan, but also by personally writing the foreword to The North American Indian.
The North American Indian projext was ambitious both logistically and financially. Morgan was impressed with Curtis' work and in 1906 offered him $75,000 over five years in return for 25 sets, as well as 300 additional prints. In the end Curtis vastly underestimated the costs of the expedition and production. His five-year project took nearly thirty years to complete and eventually cost the Morgans nearly $400,000. Curtis photographed 80 tribes, exposing over 40,000 negatives and recording 10,000 songs on an early Edison wax-cylinder recording instrument.
The complete set of The North American Indian, published in Massachusetts beween 1907 and 1930, included 20 text volumes illustrated with approximately 1,500 images and 20 corresponding portfolios in folio format, each with approximately 35 plates. The planned 500 sets were never completed. It is estimated that 272 were finished, many of which have been broken up, and approximately 85 of which remain in institutional collections. The set offered here is number 225, all on Van Gelder Holland.
The project took decades longer than projected and exceeded the budget by nearly 1.4 million dollars. Curtis' lifework was fraught with personal and financial sacrifice, yet it stands as a true labor of love that endures as a legacy to the heritage of the American Nation.
This nearly complete set of The North American Indian was purchased, by subscription, by the family of the present owners. The subscription was terminated due to the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929 and the final two portfolios and text volumes were never purchased.
EDWARD S. CURTIS (1868-1954)
The North American Indian, Portfolio 1 (1903-1907)
Details
EDWARD S. CURTIS (1868-1954)
The North American Indian, Portfolio 1 (1903-1907)
39 large-format photogravures published as Portfolio 1, The North American Indian, Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska, Seattle, WA; New York; and Cambridge, MA: University Press, 1907-1930. Each plate printed on Van Gelder Holland with letterpress copyright credit, title, plate numbers 1-39 and John Andrew & Son printer's credit in the margin. Each approximately 15½ x 11in. or the reverse. In the original half-morocco folding case with gilt-impressed portfolio number. Large folio. (39)
The North American Indian, Portfolio 1 (1903-1907)
39 large-format photogravures published as Portfolio 1, The North American Indian, Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska, Seattle, WA; New York; and Cambridge, MA: University Press, 1907-1930. Each plate printed on Van Gelder Holland with letterpress copyright credit, title, plate numbers 1-39 and John Andrew & Son printer's credit in the margin. Each approximately 15½ x 11in. or the reverse. In the original half-morocco folding case with gilt-impressed portfolio number. Large folio. (39)