2 volumes, 8vo (236 x 146 mm). 3 maps (one folding) with over 300 illustrations on approximately 176 leaves by Tosswill and Myers after Catlin, variously numbered as usual. (Lacking errata slip, light marginal toning with occasional spotting.) Contemporary calf gilt, spine in 5 compartments (rubbing to extremes, discrete repairs to hinges).

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, with "Frederick" on p.104 in vol. I. Catlin's "Indian Gallery" was exhibited in the United States, England, and France, from 1837 to 1852, when he won the esteem and friendship of numerous scientists, explorers and cultural luminaries, including Mayne Reid, Joseph Henry, Henry Clay, Benjamin Silliman, Alexander von Humboldt, F. N. Bunsen, William M. Hunt, Daniel Webster, William H. Seward, John A. Dix, Michael Faraday, and John Murray. He gave numerous speaking engagements when his exhibition opened at the Egyptian Hall in London. The first of these was given at the Royal Institution of Great Britain on February 14, 1840, to an audience of over one thousand. When Letters and Notes was published in October 1841, it was met with further acclaim and was one of the first detailed illustrated descriptions of the American West. Howes C-241; Sabin 11536; Wagner-Camp 84:1.