A Fine Collection of American Literature and History

First Edition of McKenny and Hall's Monumental History of the Indian Tribes of North America

Philadelphia: Published by Frederick W. Greenough, 1838 (first volume)/Daniel Rice and James G. Clark, 1842-44 (second and third volumes). In three volumes. First edition, mixed issue (Volume I, BAL State C, third issue; Volume II, State B, second issue; Volume III, State A, first issue). Large folio, 20 3/16 x 14 1/4 in. (513 x 362 mm). Illustrated with three hand-colored lithographic frontispieces and 117 hand-colored lithographic portraits (War Dance, State D; Red-Jacket, State F), with tissue guards, by A. Newsam, A. Hoffy, Ralph Trembley, Henry Dacre, and others, after Charles Bird King, Karl Bodmer, James Otto Lewis, P. Rindisbacher, and R.M. Sully, printed and colored by J.T. Bowen and others; one black and white engraved folding map; 17 pages of subscriber's facsimile signatures. Three-quarter brown morocco, unevenly toned, over brown cloth-covered boards, stamped in gilt, some corners worn; first volume with marbled edges, others without; marbled endpapers; bold contemporary ownership signature of Daniel C. Waterman of New Orleans at top of each title-page; front free endpapers starting in each volume; light to moderate foxing and offsetting to plates; occasional marginal smudging; light to moderate foxing to text in first volume; heavy foxing to title-pages in second and third volumes and throughout text of same; tissue guards variously foxed; frontispiece of second volume moderately toned and foxed, others with offsetting; small creasing in bottom corner of some plates and text in second volume. BAL 6934; Howes M-129; Sabin 43410a; Reese, Stamped with a National Character, 24; Field, Indian Bibliography, 992

First edition of Thomas McKenney and James Hall's monumental History of the Indian Tribes of North America: "The grandest color plate book issued in the United States up to the time of its publication, and one of the most important of the century." (Reese).

Colonel Thomas McKenney served under four presidents (Madison, Monroe, Adams, and Jackson), first as the second Superintendent of Indian Trade (1816-22) and then as the first Superintendent of the newly created Bureau of Indian Affairs (1824-30). In this position he oversaw the administration of government programs and the improvement of trade with Native American tribes, and hosted numerous Native delegations visiting Washington, D.C., for treaty negotiations and to settle grievances. During this time his interest and concern for the survival of Native American culture led him to conceive of an "Indian Archive" to preserve Native American history. To this end he collected hundreds of books, manuscripts, and other artifacts related to Native America and, significantly, he commissioned American artist Charles Bird King to paint portraits from life of prominent members of the various tribes who visited the capital. A frequent target of partisan attacks for his outspoken support of Native Americans, McKenney was dismissed from his position in 1830 by President Jackson, a result of his criticisms of the president. By this time King had completed dozens of portraits, representing nearly 20 tribes, including of the Chippewa, Sioux, Cherokee, Shawnee, Mandan, and many others.

McKenney's termination allowed him the time to finally begin working on what would become this three volume set, envisioned by him as a means to communicate to a wider audience the history and images of Native America that he had worked to preserve for the previous decade. This work would consume the next 15 years of his life and leave him in near poverty as he sought to finish its publication. Progress was slow, going through five publishers, a national economic depression, intermittent subscribers, and ballooning costs. In 1836 he was joined by Cincinnati lawyer and journalist James Hall, who wrote the extensive biographies and the general history that accompanies these images, based on Hall's own extensive research. Issued in 20 parts beginning in 1836, it would not be completed until 1844. Noted for its hand-colored lithographs based on King's portraits, the work has since come to be regarded as, "the finest example of early American lithography on stone," (James David Horan, The McKenney-Hall Portrait Gallery of American Indians) and "one of the most costly and important (works) ever published on the American Indians" (Thomas W. Field, An Essay Toward An Indian Bibliography).

King's paintings were transferred to the Smithsonian Institute in 1858, but a fire in 1865 destroyed all but a few of them. This work not only preserves the only likenesses of many of these Native American leaders, whose original portraits were destroyed by that fire, but is also an important contemporary record of early 19th-century Native American history.

Daniel C. Waterman (1802-71) was a Massachusetts-born shipping merchant in New Orleans and Honolulu, and in the 1860s was appointed Consul for Chile in Hawaii.

A handsome set with bright hand-coloring. Complete sets are scarce to auction.