[Bodmer, Karl]
Encampment of Piekann Indians Near Fort McKenzie
Hand-colored lithograph from Thomas McKenney and James Hall's History of the Indian Tribes of North America, published in Philadelphia by F.W. Greenough from 1838 to 1844. This image is the frontispiece for volume three of the folio edition and is based on an original painting by Karl Bodmer, one of the legendary artists of the 19th-century American West.
$1,250
Continue reading "Karl Bodmer's Encampment of the Piekann Indians (1840s)" »
Curtis, Edward S.
The North American Indian, Volume 13: The Hupa. The Yurok. The Karok. The Wiyot, Tolowa and Tututni. The Shasta. The Achomawi. The Klamath.
(N.-pl.): (the author), 1924. First edition.
Folio, bound in half morocco gilt with raised bands and heavy buckram cloth sides.
One of 500 numbered copies (although Curtis never completed the edition. He sold some 220 copies and gave about 50 copies to friends and supporters). The volume was printed by letterpress on Japan vellum paper. Illustrated with 75 sepia-tone photogravures (photo-engravings) from Curtis’s original photographs.
The Library of Congress describes The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis as “one of the most significant and controversial representations of traditional American Indian culture ever produced. Issued in a limited edition from 1907 to 1930, the publication continues to exert a major influence on the image of Indians in popular culture. Curtis said he wanted to document ‘the old time Indian, his dress, his ceremonies, his life and manners.’ In over 2000 photogravure plates and narrative, Curtis portrayed the traditional customs and lifeways of eighty Indian tribes.”
$13,500
Continue reading "Edward Curtis' The North American Indian" »
Beadle, J[ohn]. H[anson]
Western Wilds, and the Men Who Redeem Them
San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Company, 1878. Early edition. Subtitled: "An authentic narrative, embracing an account of seven years travel and adventure in the Far West; wild life in Arizona; perils of the plains; life in the cañon and death on the desert; thrilling scenes and romantic incidents in the lives of western pioneers; adventures among the red and white savages of the West; a full account of the Mountain Meadow Massacre; the Custer defeat; life and death of Brigham Young, etc."
$225
Ericson, A. W.
Scene at Hoopa Valley, Humboldt Co. California. [Captain John, Hupa leader of Madilding Rancheria]
Arcata, California: A. W. Ericson, (1890s, printed circa 1920s?).
A 9 by 7 inch photograph on an 11 by 14 inch mount titled at the bottom in a san-serif typeface (Palmquist logo style I). Ericson was the leading (and best) commercial photographer in Humboldt County from about 1880 to the 1930s. He traveled to the Hoopa reservation to take photographs on many occasions. In this scene, "Captain John," one of the best-known Hupa leaders, stands before a traditional cedar plank and stone dwelling in the Med'dilding (or Madilding) village, on the Trinity River. He is wearing the regalia for the brush dance—a fur loincloth, several strands of shell necklaces, and a hat with dangling feathers. He holds a short, obsidian-tipped spear and a bundle of furs.
SOLD
Powell, J. W.
Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology...1893–'94
Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1897
A volume in the Smithsonian Institutions' exceptional 48-year series on Native American culture.
$125
"Who brought these Indians to their present condition? ... Who enervated their bodies and degraded their minds by the contamination of the vices of the white man?"
On Repealing the Act of 1819, for the Civilization of the Indians, &c.
Washington DC: (n.p.), 1842
A report by James Cooper, Chairman of the Committee of Indian Affairs in the House of Representatives, opposing the proposed bill to repeal the Civilization Fund. The fund was established to teach trades to members of peaceful tribes. Much of the funding went to Christian missionary groups, which attempted to convert Native Americans while educating them. The act proved a controversial expenditure of taxpayer money until it was finally repealed in 1873. This report argues that for each dollar of federal investment has been matched by private groups and provides a table indicating the trades taught to members of various tribes (blacksmithing being the most common). Appended to the report is an impassioned plea by the Secretary of War, J. C. Spenser, who notes that the annual appropriation of $10,000 per year for the program paled in comparison to the millions of dollars earned by white Americans on the lands that once belonged to the Indians.
SOLD
Continue reading ""The dark history of our connection with the aborigines"" »
The Weewish Tree: A Magazine of Indian America for Young People.
San Francisco: American Indian Historical Society, (1971–1977).
A 26-issue run of this periodical aimed at children about Native American culture, published by a Native American organization. Each issue combines short pieces on Native American history, legends, and introductions to the culture of various tribes. The issues present are:
Volume 1, nos. 1, 3–5;
Volume 2, nos. 1, 2, 4–7
Volume 3, nos. 1–7
Volume 4, nos. 1, 2, 4–7
Volume 5, nos. 1–3
[missing 1:2; 1:6, 2:3, and 4:3]
Most
issues are very good or better. A few have soiled covers and last seven
are ex-library copies with ownership stamps and card pockets.
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"Kar-ook country was without exterior boundaries nor measurements, recognizing only three cardinal directions: they being Kar-ook, up-river; See-arook, across the river (the other side); and Yu-rook, downriver."
Hotelling, Wesley E.
My Life with the Kar-ooks, Miners and Forestry
(N.-pl. but Willow Creek, California?): (n.p.), 1978. First edition.
The self-published memoirs of a forest ranger who was born and spent most of his life along the Klamath River, in the northeast corner of Humboldt County, in the Trinity Alps. This is the ancestral home of the Karuk ("upriver") tribe. Hotelling's family had lived in the area since the 1850s, when they arrived to search for gold.
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Golla, Victor (compiler)
Hupa Language Dictionary : Na:tinixwe mixine:whe
Hoopa, California: Hoopa Valley Tribal Council, 1996.
Second edition. 110 pages. Paperback. A revision and update to the first Hupa dictionary, first published in 1983. The Hupa are the largest tribe in California, with a large reservation in northern Humboldt County.
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Gatschet, Albert S. and John R. Swanton
A Dictionary of the Atakapa Language, Accompanied by Text Material
Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1932. First edition.
A dictionary that compiles the few known sources of words of the Atakapa people, who lived along the coast in what is now the Texas-Louisian border. By the time the dictionary was compiled, the language was already extinct. 181 pages. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 108. Near fine in wrappers (paperback).
$25
2) The name of a rough-and-tumble saloon for loggers located in the building that is now Eureka Books.
3) A monthly list of highlights, oddities, and nefarious findings lifted from Eureka Books' ever-changing inventory.
