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Catalogue 259 Native Americans |
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Section VII: Ribadeneyra to Wright |
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Papers
on Book Collecting by William S. Reese
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164. Ribadeneyra y Barrientos, Antonio Joachin de: MANUAL COMPENDIO DE EL REGIO PATRONATO INDIANO, PARA SU MAS FACIL USO EN LAS MATERIAS CONDUCENTES À LA PRACTICA: DEDICADO AL REY NUESTRO SEÑOR D. FERNANDO VI. EL AMADO. Madrid: Antonio Marin, 1755. [48], 531pp. plus engraved allegorical frontispiece. Small folio. Contemporary vellum, ink inscription on spine; rebacked, with original backstrip laid down. Titlepage soiled, final leaf dampstained, internally very clean and fresh. An essential treatise in the understanding of official Spanish church policy, especially with regard to the treatment of Indians in Mexico. Ribadeneyra y Barrientos was official legal advisor to the Royal Audiencia in Mexico and head of criminal cases in Mexico. Beristain commends the work for its admirable language and declares it to be among the best legal compendiums relating to the policies of the church in Mexico. "Full of original documents respecting the establishment of the Church in the Indies, and the protection of the Indians, together with all the bulls referred to, from that of Alexander VI to the time of publication. Some copies are described as containing 24 preliminary leaves [as in this copy]" – Sabin. The fine engraved frontispiece depicts Ferdinand VI surrounded by allegorical figures and symbols. A most important compendium of information for New Spain. PALAU 266572. MEDINA (BHA) 3752. BERISTAIN III, p.24. SABIN 70785. JCB I:1089. $1000. An Extraordinary Painting by Robert Riggs 165. Riggs, Robert: [PAINTING ON PANEL OF ROMAN NOSE, THE FAMOUS CHEYENNE WARRIOR, IN THE FULL BATTLE REGALIA OF THE ELK SOLDIERS]. [Philadelphia. ca. 1948]. Dry pigment, mastic varnish, and alcohol, on panel, 25 x 36 inches. Signed lower right: "Riggs." In fine condition, in a burnished gilt wood frame. This remarkable painting by the well-known artist and illustrator, Robert Riggs, depicts famous Cheyenne warrior Roman Nose in battle, dressed in the full regalia of the Elk Soldier warrior society. A dramatic, powerful image, it is one of a handful of paintings by Riggs. Robert Riggs (1896-1970) was in his heyday one of the best-known artists and illustrators in the United States. After studies at the Art Students League and service during World War I, Riggs settled in Philadelphia, his home base for the rest of his life. In the 1930s and ’40s he rose to national prominence as an illustrator, lithographer, and commercial artist, producing well-known images of boxers and circuses (two life-long obsessions), and of soldiers during World War II. In 1940, around the peak of his career as an illustrator, his drawings commanded $750-$1500 each, and his name was as well-known in the trade as that of Norman Rockwell. But Riggs loathed this commercial work, and after 1950 he slid increasingly into obscurity, although revered by those who knew him in the Philadelphia art world. When he died in 1970, he was almost forgotten. Riggs was never comfortable working in oils or watercolor, preferring dry mediums such as pencil and charcoal. For the few large paintings he created, he employed a technique of blending dry pigments with mastic varnish and alcohol, working on panels he had especially manufactured for his use. This technique, which creates a surface similar to the look of egg tempera, adds to the extraordinary character of Riggs’ major compositions. Riggs had a particular fascination with American Indians. During his days of affluence during the Depression and World War II, he formed a major collection of American Indian artifacts. According to his biographer, he owned "an odd and unsettling collection of American Indian artifacts...He was a serious and widely read amateur anthropologist, whose hobby, an expensive one into which he happily poured much of his substantial income...was guided in part by Frank N. Speck of the University of Pennsylvania, a friend who was perhaps the foremost authority then on Indians of the Northeast." This collection played an important part in the creation of the present painting, and particular artifacts depicted are probably based on items in his collection. For example, Riggs owned several of the grisly "finger necklaces" of dried human fingers, one of which Roman Nose wears in the painting. Riggs clearly went to great lengths to make the finely realized details of his painting completely accurate. His own collections and his friendship with Speck aided him in this (Riggs did small drawings of artifacts for several of Speck’s publications). Thus, such apparently bizarre details as Roman Nose’s body paint are based on Riggs’ understanding of the Elk Soldier war regalia, and he has faithfully reproduced what is known of Roman Nose’s headdress, which supposedly had magical powers to ward off arrows and bullets. At the same time, the distortions of scale and perspective typical of Riggs’ flamboyant paintings are fully in evidence. Roman Nose, a celebrated Northern Cheyenne warrior, was an apt subject for Riggs’ heroic portrait. According to the ANB, "His contemporaries described [Roman Nose] as being over six feet in height and possessing great physical powers. A man of fine character, quiet and self-contained, he was held in high esteem by all the Cheyennes...and was so renowned among whites that they credited him with being a leader in a number of engagements in which he did not participate." He became active in fighting against whites only after the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, most notably the Platte Bridge fight in 1865, along Powder River the same year, and in harassing railroad construction in 1866 and 1867. Refusing to participate in the Medicine Lodge peace treaties of the latter year, he led raids in Colorado in 1868. In the famous Battle of Beecher Island that September, his protective headdress rendered useless by violating a taboo against eating food prepared with metal, he led a fatal charge in which he was killed. Riggs may be depicting any of the engagements of these three bloody years in this painting. His purpose seems more to show Roman Nose as a mythic warrior figure than to document a specific event. Riggs created only a handful of major paintings, and they have seldom appeared on the market. The only recent auction sale of a work of similar size and scope was his 1938 painting of the Joe Lewis-Max Schmeling fight, which realized $277,500 at Sotheby’s in 1999. An extraordinary and dramatic painting. Ben Bassham, The Lithographs of Robert Riggs (Philadelphia, 1986), passim. $250,000. 166. Riggs, Stephen R.: DAKOTA TAWOONSPE. WOWAPI II. DAKOTA LESSONS. BOOK II. Louisville: Morton and Griswold, [1850]. 48pp. plus numerous illustrations throughout in text. 12mo. Original green printed wrappers. Spine worn, institutional markings on lower inner corner of cover. Bookplates on verso of front wrapper. Otherwise, very good. The second of a two-part series of Dakota lessons written by the eminent American Indian linguist, Stephen R. Riggs. From his mission on the upper Mississippi in Minnesota, Riggs became the leading Siouan linguist of his day, preparing numerous religious texts in the Dakota language. Of particular note is his translation of the Minnesota constitution into Dakota in 1858. One of the bookplates on the verso of the front wrapper indicates the item at hand was presented to the Yankton College Library by one of Riggs’ two wives. SABIN 71330. DAB XV, p.605. AYER LINGUISTICS, DAKOTA 135. PILLING, SIOUAN, p.61. SIEBERT SALE 1053 (both parts, $4600). $2000. The Classic of Greenland Imprints, 167. Rink, Hinrich, ed: KALADLIT OKALLUKTUALLIAIT...[LEGENDS FROM GREENLAND...]. Noungme [Godthaab, Greenland: Printed at the Inspectorate Press by L. Møller], 1859-1863. Four volumes. [8],136,[2]pp. plus eight lithographed plates of music and twelve woodcuts; [8],111pp. plus eighteen woodcuts (twelve handcolored or printed color) and two folding maps; [3-6],136,[1]pp. plus twelve (of fourteen) lithographs at the end; [6],123pp. plus three woodcut plates and eight additional woodcuts in the text. First volume with colored titlepage vignette. Modern three-quarter polished calf and boards, ornate gilt spines, a.e.g. Internally bright and clean. Gilt ownership stamp on front pastedown of each volume. Near fine, and an attractive set. This series of volumes of collected folk tales of Greenland, printed on the first real press to operate there and illustrated with remarkable woodcuts prepared by a native Greenland artist, must rank among the rarest and most extraordinary exotic imprints. Although ephemeral pieces had been printed on a small hand press in Greenland as early as 1793, the first real press was brought there in 1857 by the enthusiastic Danish Crown Inspector for Southern Greenland, Hinrich Rink. Rink began his career as an administrator based at the Moravian mission at Godthaab, on the southwest coast of Greenland. He used the press to produce both official notices and literary works. Rink was determined to collect legends and folk tales of Greenland natives and publish them, an ambition achieved in these four volumes, published over a five-year span. All of the letterpress was printed in a small, unheated workshop next to Rink’s house, mostly executed by Lars Møller. Rink collected oral tales from throughout Greenland, although mainly in the southern area he administered. The remarkable oral tradition of the Eskimo, polluted by few outside influences, stretched back to the early Middle Ages. Many of the stories, especially in the first volume, describe the clashes between the Norse and the Eskimo. Rink recognized that some of the tales existed in the realm of pure myth, but that others represented recollections, passed from one generation to the next, of events of many centuries earlier. In the preface to the third volume Rink sets out his theories on the tales, laying the foundation for scholarship on the Greenland Eskimo. All of the text is given in both Greenlandic and Danish. The most amazing aspect of these books are the illustrations. In the first two volumes these were supplied by an Eskimo named Aron of Kangeq, a sealer and walrus hunter who lived at the Moravian mission at the small trading station of Kangeq. Aron was stricken with tuberculosis (which was epidemic in Greenland in that era) and confined to bed. Having heard of his raw artistic talent, Rink supplied him with "paper, coloured pencils, and the necessary tools for woodcutting." Thirty of these, about half of them handcolored, appear in the first two volumes. Aron illustrated the myths. As Oldendow says: "With his fertile imagination Aron drew men in violent motion...he depicts the legendary world of the Greenlanders with insight and ability...He makes us understand the vastness, loneliness, and weirdness of the majestic Greenland landscape and evokes the soul of the country as the ancient Eskimos have known it...." Indeed, Aron created pictures of remarkable power, all the more extraordinary for the circumstances of their production. In the third volume Lars Møller, the printer, supplied a series of illustrations of Greenland life created on the first lithographic press in Greenland. This set is notable for containing two folding maps not regularly issued with the set, but published to be distributed separately. Both were prepared by S. Kleinschmidt and are lithographic maps showing the fjords around Gothaab, with accompanying letterpress text. These maps are extremely rare in their own right. Needless to say, Rink’s volumes were produced in small editions, and the attrition of the Greenland climate could not have aided their survival. Today they are of the greatest rarity. An imprint and ethnographic document of stellar importance. Knud Oldendow, The Spread of Printing...Greenland (Amsterdam, 1969), see especially pp.39-44. SABIN 36978 (Vols. 1-3). LAURIDSEN, BIBLIOGRAPHIA GROENLANDICA, p. 210. MILES & REESE, AMERICA PICTURED TO THE LIFE 32. $42,500. The History of the Amazon Missions 168. Rodriguez, Manuel: EL MARAÑON, Y AMAZONAS. HISTORIA DE LOS DESCUBRIMIENTOS, ENTRADAS, Y REDUCCION DE NACIONES. TRABAJOS MALOGRADOS DE ALGUNOS CONQUISTADORES, Y DICHOSOS DE OTROS, ASSI TEMPORALES, COMO ESPIRITUALES, EN LAS DILATADAS MONTAÑAS, Y MAYORES RIOS DE LA AMERICA. Madrid: Antonio Gonçalez de Reyes, 1684. [22],444,[31]pp. Half title. Folio. Contemporary stiff vellum, manuscript title on spine. Minute wear to covers, front inner hinge cracked near head of spine. Faint dampstaining on front free end-paper and half title. Minor foxing. Contemporary ownership signature on half title. Overall near fine. One of the earliest and best histories of the most captivating region of South America, the Amazon River valley, and a work celebrated equally for its unparalleled content and rarity. Written by the Jesuit, Manuel Rodriguez, this text offers a history of all the expeditions along the river through the author’s lifetime and draws substantially from several first-hand accounts. Rodriguez’ history begins with the overland quest of Francisco de Orellana, who discovered the source of the Amazon in Peru before sailing its complete course with his men in improvised boats in 1542. It was Orellana’s relation of his adventures that gave rise to the myth of the Amazon warrior, rooted in an attack Orellana and his men suffered at the hands of a band of hostile women. Because of his experience on the river, then known by some as El Marañon, Orellana re-christened it the Amazon. A second legend of the Amazon told in Rodriguez’ book is that of the mysterious nomad (alternately thought to be a king) known as El Dorado, the search for whom prompted a second expedition to the region twenty years later, commanded by Pedro de Ursùa. Ursùa’s campaign was marred by the rebellion of Lope de Aguirre, who killed Ursùa and ruined the expedition before being executed himself in 1561. The remainder of the history concentrates on ensuing expeditions in which the Jesuit order played a prominent role, including the establishment of the order at Quito, the seminary at San Luys, the progress of Indian religious instruction there, several martyrdoms, a description of the Maya, the pursuit of gold, and a lengthy summary. On pages 100-141, Rodriguez offers a shortened translation of Father Acuña’s book, Nuevo descubrimiento del rio de las Amazonas, which provides an additional history of the region. "One of the reasons for the rarity of the work is the fact that it was published without the license of the Congregation of the ‘Propaganda Fide,’ contrary to the orders of Clement X for works of this kind. It was consequently included among the forbidden works in the ‘Index,’ despite its bearing all the other ecclesiastical and civil licenses" – Borba de Moraes. This copy contains the half title and the "Compendio historial," both of which are usually lacking. Also of note is the unusual colophon which summarizes the edition, year of publication, number of books and pages, and the number of years the history covers. A superlative copy of an elusive and fundamental New World history. SABIN 72524. MEDINA (BHA) 1771. PALAU 273.201, 273.204. STREIT II:2201. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 684/147. BORBA DE MORAES, pp.743-44. SALVÀ 3389. RODRIGUES 2122. BOSCH 147. VINDEL 2.566. BACKER-SOMMERVOGEL VI:1965. AMAZÔNIA I:7645. BALDUS 1356. GOLDSMITH, SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE BOOKS R-179. Edward J. Goodman, The Explorers of South America, pp.66-71, passim. $20,000. 169. [Roman Catholic Church – Liturgy and Ritual – Mohawk]: TSIATAK NIHONO8ENTSIAKE ONK8E ON8E AKOIATONSERA...LE LIVRE DES SEPT NATIONS OU PAROISSIEN IROQUOIS, AUQUEL ON A AJOUTÉ, POUR L’USAGE DE LA MISSION DU LAC DES DEUX-MONTAGNES, QUELQUES CANTIQUES EN LANGUE ALGONQUINE. TIOHTIAKE. [Montréal]: John Lovell, 1865. 460pp. Half title. Contemporary roan, rebacked. Slight abrasions along edge of covers. Short tear in half title at binding. Pencil inscription on half title. Tear in foremargin of one blank leaf. Pages 274-275 slightly adhered together. Very good. Translated by J.A. Cuoq. Contains a Mohawk processional, hymns, prayers, etc. TPL 9325. BANKS 109. PILLING, IROQUOIAN, p.50. CALDERISI 16. $1575. An Indian Treaty of Great Rarity, 170. [Sac and Fox Indians]: A TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE UNITED TRIBES OF SAC AND FOX INDIANS. Washington, Printed by William Duane & Son, 1805. 12pp. Dbd. Near fine. In a half morocco box. The original printing of the important 1804 treaty made between William Henry Harrison and Sac (Sauk) and Fox chiefs at St. Louis, through which the Sauk and Fox were coerced into ceding the greater part of their lands to the United States. Four years before the treaty was signed, William Henry Harrison was appointed governor of Indiana Territory, in which one of his immediate tasks was to obtain minor cessions of Indian territory along the Illinois River. In August 1804 a handful of white squatters were killed in a fight on Sauk and Fox hunting grounds about forty miles north of St. Louis, providing Harrison with an excuse to prosecute a much larger demand in that region. In late October, Quashquame, a minor Sauk chief, and other "head men" of the Sauk and Fox arrived in St. Louis for a council with Harrison, bringing with them one of the accused killers, who was immediately put behind bars. After a week of pleading for his release and drinking heavily at the local grog shops, Quashquame and his delegation were assembled before Harrison on Nov. 3, "confused, intimidated, and either drunk or hung over" (Channick, p.8). To their surprise and befuddlement, the Indians were read the present land treaty, which they were expected to sign that day with their marks. The 2,000-word treaty traded the Sauk and Fox’s rights to 23,000 square miles of their lands in present-day Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri, for the "friendship and protection" of the United States together with a one-time payment of goods worth $2,234.50, and annual payments worth $1000. Herbert S. Channick notes in his 1998 Illinois Heritage article on the subject that considering "that their winter fur catch was reputed to have brought the Sauk and Fox as much as $60,000 in a single season, the deal was preposterous on its face" (pp.8-9). One of the country’s great swindles for Indian lands in the Mississippi Valley, helping set the stage for the Black Hawk War of 1832. An excessively rare document, as are most Indian treaties printed before the burning of Washington in 1814 and the emergence of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set in 1817. Two copies are listed between Sabin, Shaw & Shoemaker, and OCLC, at the Massachusetts Historical Society and the British Museum. SABIN 96616. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 9638. Herbert S. Channick, "William Henry Harrison Steals Western Illinois From the Sauk and Fox" in Illinois Heritage, Vol. I, No. 2, Winter 1998, pp.6-10. DAB VIII, pp.348-52. DAH V, pp.33-34. $5000. A Foundation Work of Canadiana 171. Sagard-Theodat, Gabriel: LE GRAND VOYAGE DU PAYS DES HURONS, SITUE EN L’AMERIQUE VERS LA MER DOUCE, ES DERNIERS CONFINS DE LA NOUVELLE FRANCE, DITE CANADA.... Paris. 1632. [22],380,[2]pp. With the extra engraved title. [bound with:] DICTIONAIRE DE LA LANGUE HURONNE. Paris. 1632. 12,[146],[14]pp. Small octavo. 18th-century calf, spine gilt, edges stained red. Slight separation at upper front hinge. Leaves washed, titlepage expertly remounted on matching paper. A few unobtrusive marginal repairs in main text, bottom edge of leaves of Dictionaire... expertly restored. Withal, a very good copy. In a half morocco and cloth box. Sagard was a Recollet missionary who spent 1623-24 in Huronia as a missionary to the Huron nation. His book, based largely on his own experiences and those of his associates, as well as contemporary letters and documents, are considered to be the main authority for the history of the first Recollet mission in Canada in 1615-29, and the main source for Indian life and relations with the French which does not stem from the Jesuits. "Sagard and Champlain were the first explorers to give any very definite statements about the Huron Indian country and what they had learned from these Indians about the Great Lakes Country" – Greenly. Most of the work is devoted to the life of the Hurons, and has been called "a brilliant, astonishingly precise fresco." The Huron dictionary is the first printed Huron vocabulary, a collection of French expressions translated into Huron, to be used as a manual by traders and missionaries. Sagard assembled it from his own work and those of other missionaries, and it remains "the most complete compilation extant dealing with the old Huron language." A major and important rarity of Canada, New France, and the Great Lakes region. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 632/86. ARENTS 181. BELL S33. CHURCH 421. FIELD 1341,1342. HARRISSE (NOUVELLE FRANCE) 52, 53. JCB II:243-44. LANDE S2012. PILLING, IROQUOIAN, p.147. SABIN 74881, 74883. STREETER SALE 93. VLACH 661. TPL 6305. GREENLY, MICHIGAN 10. 100 MICHIGAN RARITIES 1. $40,000. A Monument of Historical Research 172. Sahagun, Fray Bernardino de: HÍSTORIA GENERAL DE LAS COSAS DE NUEVA ESPANA...PRIMERA VERSIÓN ÍNTEGRA DEL TEXTO CASTELLANO DEL MANUSCRITO CONOCIDO CÓDICE FLORENTINO. Mexico City: Fomento cultural Banamex, 1982. Two volumes. xviii,[4],355; [6],359-745,[1]pp. plus eighty color facsimiles hors text. Folio. Uniformly bound in half morocco over silk covered boards, spine gilt and blindstamped, gilt leather labels, a.e.g. Very fine. Each volume in its own linen-covered slipcase. Sahagun’s Hístoria general... is one of the cornerstone works of research pertaining to the early history of the western hemisphere, and has been described as "beyond question the most important, as it is the most authentic history of events, transpiring in the New World, before its discovery by Columbus...no history was ever conceived, or brought forth with more labor" – Thomas W. Field. Sahagun devoted over thirty-five years to its compilation, and this edition is based directly upon his definitive text, referred to generally as the Florentine Codex. This scholarly edition of Sahagun’s Hístoria general..., with an introduction and scholarly apparatus by Alfredo Lopez Austin and Josefina Garcia Quintana, was commissioned by Banamex as a presentation gift to their best customers. The edition consists of 500 copies printed on 100% rag paper made and watermarked especially for this project by Monadnock Paper Mills, with letterpress by The Press of A. Colish, and color facsimiles by Eureka Offset. The beautiful binding of half brown morocco with raised bands, gilt labels, and crimson watered silk was executed by Harcourt Bindery of Boston. Additionally, ornaments and capitals were designed specifically for this edition by Patrick Kennedy, and in many cases were individually handcolored. In all regards, this is an exceptionally lavish, beautiful, and historically important work, and unquestionably one of the major events in American book production of the last few years. Unfortunately, due to political circumstances, the project is little known outside the circle of those involved in its production and those few people who have had the opportunity to examine a set. Virtually the entire edition was shipped to Mexico City shortly before the nationalization of the Mexican banks, and relegated to the uncertain limbo of a Banamex warehouse. $2500. Rare Vermont Imprint 173. [Sanders, Daniel Clark]: A HISTORY OF THE INDIAN WARS WITH THE FIRST SETTLERS OF THE UNITED STATES, PARTICULARLY IN NEW ENGLAND. Montpelier. 1812. 319pp. 18mo. Contemporary calf, leather label. Hinges rather worn. Trimmed a bit close, affecting a couple letters at foredge. Somewhat darkened, a few fox marks, old ownership signatures and stamp. A good, sound copy. In a cloth case, leather label. A rare work on the history of the Indian Wars in New England, written by the president of the University of Vermont. "This book aroused bitter criticism because of its strictures on colonial bigotry and cruelty to the natives..." – Streeter. The book was long believed to have been suppressed by its author because of his mortification at the attacks made on it by reviewers, and both Field and Church give long accounts of its supposed destruction. While there certainly were bitter reviews, and the work is quite rare, more modern bibliographers, notably Marcus McCorison in Vermont Imprints, have suggested that the suppression story may be exaggerated. Later writers have also praised the book as one of the best written histories of the Indian Wars of New England. CHURCH 1306. HOWES S84. PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 3474. FIELD 1351. GILMAN, p.240. SABIN 76366. McCORISON 1420. STREETER SALE 727. $1750. Vast Compilation on the American Indian 174. Schoolcraft, Henry R.: HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE HISTORY, CONDITION, AND PROSPECTS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF THE UNITED STATES.... Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1851-1857. Six thick folio volumes. Numerous plates and maps, many tinted or in color. Uniformly bound in half green morocco, raised bands, and marbled boards, stamped in gilt. Light tideline throughout sixth volume. Other volumes clean and neat internally. Fourth and sixth volumes with presentation inscriptions from the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs on front endpapers. A very good set in a handsome modern binding. The first edition of one of the most important and massive works concerning the American Indian, a foundation stone of ethnological studies in America, and by far the most extensive single work on the American Indian issued in the 19th century. Schoolcraft, the general editor, was commissioner of Indian Affairs for many years, and in an unparalleled position to assemble the data presented herein. Field, while criticizing the general layout of the work, says it contains "a vast mass of really valuable material. It has indeed performed a very important service for Indian history, in collecting and preserving an immense amount of historical data. Vocabularies of Indian languages, grammatical analyses, legends of various tribes, biographies of chiefs and warriors, narratives of captivities, histories of Indian wars, emigrations and theories of their origin, are all related and blended...a very large number of beautiful steel engravings, representative of some phase of Indian life and customs, are contained in the work...." In fact, the volumes contain some 336 illustrations, many of them steel engravings after artist Seth Eastman, most of which do not appear elsewhere. "No two people will probably agree which plates, among several hundred, are to be regarded as colored because the use of tinting is very skillful and most varied. The editor feels that only about 70, more than half in the first volume, are truly colored plates but he freely admits that the effect of coloring (as distinct from specific color) is very general throughout, though the black and white illustrations probably outnumber the others. It is said that the comparatively numerous colored plates of the first volume are all to be found, in colored state, in only a few copies" – Bennett. The copy in hand would appear to be one of the latter few. Only about fourteen illustrations (consisting of maps and some plates) in the first volume of this set have no color or tint. There are many plates (and some maps in the second through sixth volumes) which have been handsomely and expertly colored (often by hand, some partially so) throughout the set, but most frequently in the first volume. HOWES S183, "b." FIELD, p.353. SABIN 77849. BENNETT, p.95 SERVIES 3691. $20,000. A Revolutionary War Narrative 175. Segar, Nathaniel: A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY AND SUFFERINGS OF LT. NATHAN’L SEGAR, WHO WAS TAKEN PRISONER BY THE INDIANS AND CARRIED TO CANADA DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. Paris, Me.: The Oxford Bookstore, 1825. 36pp. Contemporary plain stiff wrappers. Ink stain on lower edge of front wrapper. Scattered foxing, titlepage restored and laid down on paper. A very good copy. In a half morocco and cloth box. Nathaniel Segar was a farmer and native of Newton, Massachusetts. All he wanted was to build a life in the wilderness of Maine. His plans were upset when the British marched on Lexington and Concord, prompting him to leave his fledgling farm and volunteer to join the militia assigned to guard Boston. All told, Segar volunteered for the militia three separate times, taking part in the Canadian campaign of 1775-76; the capture of two hundred Hessian soldiers in Vermont (with a mention of Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys); and the near fatal assault on Newport, Rhode Island, which was called off when it was learned the British were lying in ambush. After retiring from the Continental Army for good in 1779, Segar returned to Maine (then Sudbury, Canada), where he began to clear land and prepare a farm, becoming one of the first settlers of Bethel. At first the local Indians were friendly, but they grew increasingly hostile, eventually raiding the village and taking numerous prisoners, Segar included, on Aug. 3, 1781. After a forced march through the Canadian wilderness, the captives were turned over to the British in Montreal, where their captivity continued until November 1782. With peace imminent, they were returned to Boston by ship. Segar’s narrative of both the Revolutionary period and his captivity is rich in detail, with numerous accounts of Indian brutality and courage on the part of the captives. An extremely rare captivity narrative, with much excellent Revolutionary War material. Not in Ayer or Streeter. The only copy to appear on the market in recent times was the Herschel Jones-Frank Siebert copy in 1999. SABIN 78895. SIEBERT SALE 453. AMERICAN IMPRINTS 22235. HOWES S272, "c." $12,500. 176. [Seneca Hymn Book]: [Wright, Asher]: GAA NAH SHOH NE DE O WAAH SA O NYOH GWAH NA WEN NI YUH. HONONT GAHDEH HODI YADO NYOH. Do Syo Wa [Buffalo Creek Reservation]: Seneca Mission Press, 1843. 136pp. 16mo. Presentation binding of red straight-grained morocco, tooled in gilt, gilt name ("Phebe W. Ames") on front board, a.e.g. Some scattered foxing, but near fine. A scarce hymn book in the Seneca language, printed at the Mission Press on the Buffalo Creek Reservation in western New York. The hymns are prefaced by a brief essay on speaking and singing the Seneca language by Asher Wright, and the index to the hymns at the end is also written in English. Asher Wright, missionary to the Seneca tribe in western New York State, produced a variety of works in the Seneca language, all of which are rare. Not in Ayer, Indian Linguistics, who only mentions a later edition. Siebert, likewise, did not have a copy. The present volume is one of the earliest and most substantial works printed on the Seneca Mission Press. PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 1347. PILLING, IROQUOIAN, p.176. SABIN 26277. $2500. An Early Upstate Imprint 177. [Seneca Indians]: NATIVE ELOQUENCE, BEING PUBLIC SPEECHES DELIVERED BY TWO DISTINGUISHED CHIEFS OF THE SENECA TRIBE OF INDIANS, KNOWN AMONG THE WHITE PEOPLE BY THE NAMES OF RED JACKET AND FARMER’S BROTHER. Canandaigua, N.Y.: J.D. Bemis, 1811. 24pp. Small octavo. Dbd. Gutters reinforced and resewn, foredge repaired on titlepage and fifth leaf. Trimmed close at top edge, shaving first two words in title and a few page numbers. Good. In a half morocco box. An early Canandaigua imprint and a scarce title. This pamphlet gathers together five speeches by Seneca chiefs Red Jacket and Farmer’s Brother, all made over the preceding thirteen years. Farmer’s Brother’s speech concerns the future of two whites who had been captured by Indians and who wished to continue to live among the Seneca. Red Jacket, whose oratorical skills Thomas McKenney compared to those of Cicero, is represented by four speeches. In his remarks the Seneca leader rejects the white man’s religion, rebuffs his offers to buy Indian lands, and rails against the corrosive effect of white civilization on his people. Only five other copies of this work are located. The last to appear on the market, the Siebert copy, was bought by William Reese Company on behalf of Yale in 1999. McMURTRIE (CANANDAIGUA) 11. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 23482. SABIN 89187. SIEBERT SALE 223. GILCREASE, p.346. $2500. All the Western Indian Battles 178. [Sheridan, Philip H.]: RECORD OF ENGAGEMENTS WITH HOSTILE INDIANS WITHIN THE MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI, FROM 1868 TO 1882, LIEUTENANT GENERAL P.H. SHERIDAN, COMMANDING.... Chicago: Headquarters Military Division of the Missouri, 1882. 120pp. Original printed wrappers. Spine with some chipping. Few small edge tears in margins. Overall good. Stamped inscription on front wrapper: "Compliments of Lt. Gen. Sheridan." Lists and details over 400 engagements, in chronological order, including a long description of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. An excellent source for information concerning the Indian Wars. "Official compilation covering the bloodiest years of western warfare" – Howes. HOWES S395, "aa." STREETER SALE 1827. GRAFF 3753. RADER 3180. RITTENHOUSE 520 (note). $850. Rare Southern Indian Captivity 179. Smith, Mary: AN AFFECTING NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY & SUFFERINGS OF MRS. MARY SMITH, WHO, WITH HER HUSBAND AND THREE DAUGHTERS WERE TAKEN PRISONERS BY THE INDIANS IN AUGUST LAST (1814) AND...WAS FORTUNATELY RESCUED FROM THE MERCILESS HANDS OF SAVAGES BY A DETACHED PARTY OF THE ARMY OF THE BRAVE GENERAL JACKSON, LATE COMMANDING AT NEW-ORLEANS. Providence: Printed for L. Scott, [1816?]. 24pp. Folding woodcut frontispiece with light contemporary coloring (now somewhat oxidized). Original plain wrappers, resewn. Leaves tanned, some staining on frontispiece. Scattered foxing. Still a fresh, very good copy in original state, untrimmed. In a folding cloth case, leather label. The Littell copy, with his book label. Mrs. Smith and her family were taken captive by the Chickasaws near the Yazoo in 1814. Her husband was used for tomahawk throwing practice and her three daughters were burned in front of her. She was saved from a similar fate by the raid of a company of Tennessee troops. This captivity tale was first published in Providence in 1815. The narrative was apparently a bestseller for its day, as at least seven editions appeared by 1818, all of which are rare today. The printer, Scott, produced several twenty-four-page and thirty-two-page editions with a new woodcut frontispiece and variant titlepages; some include the text about the murder of thirty people after Mrs. Smith escaped. The present edition was printed after Jackson’s defeat of the British at the Battle of New Orleans on Jan. 8, 1815, as reflected in the title. Very rare. Sabin cites only two copies, of which one is imperfect. This is probably the only copy to trade in the 20th century. Not in Ayer. HOWES S638, "b." SABIN 83539. $15,000. 180. [Society for the Propagation of the Gospel]: A COLLECTION OF PAPERS, PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS.... London: Printed by Joseph Downing, 1719. [2],88pp. Quarto. Gathered signatures, stitched. Early ownership signature at top of titlepage. Titlepage loose, chipped around the edges, and stained. A few old stains in the text. About good. A later edition of this collection, after the first of 1706. The Society was charged with propagating the gospel in many far-flung regions, including to the Indians of the British colonies in North America and to Blacks in the West Indies. Included is the charter granted the Society by King William III, the Society’s request for fit ministers to be sent abroad, a description of the qualifications of such ministers, the standing orders of the Society, and instructions for clergy and schoolmasters as to how they should comport themselves when on their missions. One chapter is devoted to prayers for schools in America, and another gives directions on the catechist for slaves on plantations in Barbados. The final two chapters give a list of the members of the Society, and a "Catalogue of the Missionaries Library." European Americana and OCLC together locate only five copies of this edition. A rare and informative volume on the operations and philosophy of this important missionary organization. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 719/141. OCLC 48262463. SABIN 85934 (note). $850. Rare Account of Texas Indian Fighting 181. Sowell, A.J.: RANGERS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS. WITH A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENTS, HARDSHIPS, MASSACRES, BATTLES, AND WARS, BY WHICH TEXAS WAS RESCUED FROM THE RULE OF THE SAVAGE AND CONSECRATED TO THE EMPIRE OF CIVILIZATION. San Antonio: Shepard Bros. & Co., 1884. [2],411pp. Illus. Original cloth. Cloth scuffed, considerable wear to extremities, corners and edges frayed, contents a bit shaken. Old pencil ownership inscriptions on end-papers. Withal, a good copy, in original binding, of this elusive title. In a half morocco and cloth box. One of the rarest and best accounts of pioneer days in Texas, described by Edward Eberstadt as "one of the most important and authentic accounts of the Indians Wars in Texas." Sowell wrote the book while still in his mid-thirties, and so his was one of the first primary accounts to be published. The first section of the book collects Indian affrays as recounted to Sowell by various pioneers. The second section relates the adventures of the author’s family in Texas during the 1830s and ’40s, with much interesting material concerning the Texas Revolution and the republic period. The final section contains Sowell’s vital personal narrative of experiences during the Wichita Campaign of 1870-71. A Texas rarity of prime importance. BASIC TEXAS BOOKS 192. RAINES, p.193. HOWES S801. GRAFF 3909. DOBIE, pp.58, 60. $3000. With Original Mounted Photograph 182. Spencer, J.W.: REMINISCENCES OF PIONEER LIFE IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Davenport [Ia.]: Griggs, Watson, & Day, 1872. 73pp. Photographic portrait. Original green cloth, gilt title on front board. Small chip in cloth at center of front joint. Cloth rubbed, worn at edges and corners. A few light fox marks. About very good. A scarce work, published for complimentary distribution by the author’s children. There is much on early settlers in Illinois, and on Spencer’s personal (and rather positive) interactions with Chief Black Hawk. "These are interesting reminiscences of life in sparsely settled Illinois and along the Mississippi in the Twenties and until the end of the Black Hawk War in 1832. Spencer, born in Vermont in 1801, drove a team to St. Louis in 1821 and settled first thirty miles or so from the mouth of the Illinois River, then near Jacksonville, and finally at Rock Island. He was First Lieutenant in a company mustered into service in June, 1831" – Streeter. Howes notes that the photographic portrait, present here, was not issued in all copies. HOWES S834, "aa." STREETER SALE 1515. SABIN 89361. BUCK 166. GRAFF 3929. $900. Sioux Indian Painting 183. [Szwedzicki, C., pub]: SIOUX INDIAN PAINTING PART I. PAINTINGS OF THE SIOUX AND OTHER TRIBES OF THE GREAT PLAINS. [with:] PART II. THE ART OF AMOS BAD HEART BUFFALO. Nice, France: C. Szwedzicki, [1938]. Two separate portfolios. 15; 10pp. of text in parallel English and French, plus fifty plates (many in color) on individual sheets. Folio. Unbound sheets laid into original folding cloth portfolios with string ties. Light wear to the portfolios. Internally fine, with the bookplate of philanthropist Mrs. Charles Voorhis on the front pastedown of the first portfolio. One of 400 numbered sets, signed and numbered by the publisher. Comprised of letterpress introductions and notes by Hartley Burr Alexander, accompanied by fifty folio plates printed via gravure and the pouchoir process (twenty-five plates per volume). These are two of the most desirable of all the lavish Szwedzicki folios. The beautiful plates depict the artwork of a number of Sioux, Shoshone, and Kiowa artists (e.g. Kills Two, Amos Bad Heart Buffalo, Pretty Hawk, Chief Washakie, and Silver Horn). The second portfolio contains artwork exclusively by Amos Bad Heart Buffalo, including a series of famous scenes from the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Seventeen of the twenty-five plates in the second part relate entirely to the Custer battle, and others to the Wounded Knee massacre. When the drawings were reproduced in 1967 in A Pictographic History of the Oglala Sioux, they were singled out as a Custer "Highspot." Szwedzicki also produced portfolios of Kiowa Indian art and Pueblo art, all published in a similar format in the south of France in the 1930s. These portfolios have become rather uncommon due to cannibalization over the years, and it has been suggested that some sets were destroyed during World War II. A beautiful and important collection of 19th-century American Indian art. LUTHER HIGHSPOT 105. $6500. The First Federal Law Regulating 184. [United States Congress – Second Session]: CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: AT THE SECOND SESSION, BEGUN AND HELD AT THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, ON MONDAY, THE FOURTH OF JANUARY, ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY. AN ACT TO REGULATE TRADE AND INTERCOURSE WITH THE INDIAN TRIBES [caption title]. [New York]: Printed by Francis Childs and John Swaine, [1790]. [2]pp. Folio. Dbd. Stitching holes in right margin. Light age toning. A very good copy. The first federal law regulating trade and communication with Indian tribes, requiring that any person involved in commercial transactions involving American Indians have a license for that purpose issued by the superintendent of Indian Affairs, that any land transactions with Indians have to be performed by the federal government, and punishing those who committed crimes against Indians. With this law, the federal government established the position that only it had the authority to govern key elements of interaction and commerce with American Indians. The act indicates that any person attempting to trade with the Indians without the proper license will forfeit "all the merchandise so offered for sale to the Indian tribes, or so found in the Indian country." In addition, and more importantly, the act regulates the sale of Indian lands, which can only be done through the authority of the federal government. Finally, it could punish anyone who went onto Indian lands and "there commit any crime upon, or trespass against, the person or property of any peaceable and friendly Indian or Indians." This act was the foundation of a system of United States interaction with Indian tribes which lasted for decades. An extremely rare document. No copy has appeared at auction in the last forty years (the famous Frank Siebert sale in 1999 included only a 1796 act slightly revising this one, which sold for $7475), and the only known copies are at the American Antiquarian Society, the Library of Congress, and The New York Public Library. EVANS 22972. NAIP w010710. $20,000. 185. [United States Laws]: ACTS PASSED AT THE SECOND SESSION OF THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, BEGUN AND HELD AT THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, ON MONDAY THE FOURTH OF JANUARY, IN THE YEAR M,DCC,XC; AND OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES, THE FOURTEENTH. PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY. New York: Printed by Francis Childs and John Swaine, Printers to the Congress of the United States, [1790]. 226,[2]pp., with p.[228] numbered ccxxviii. Folio. Gathered signatures, stitched as issued. Contemporary inscription on titlepage, "1790 with the treaties with France, Holland, England, Sweden, Indians, Prussia, Morocco," and indicating pages addressing the treaties with each country. Minor soiling on titlepage and final leaf, otherwise internally fresh and clean. A very good copy. The official record of the acts of Congress passed during the second session of the first Congress, which "contains the Treaties and Conventions ratified with the several countries of Europe, and with the Indian tribes." As during the first session of the first Congress, many more fundamental acts of legislation were passed in this term, including the Census, naturalization law, the copyright bill, the settling of the District of Columbia as the seat of the new government, and various tariff and fiscal laws. An important volume in the early history of the United States, recording the official Acts passed in the earliest days of the federal government, here in gathered signatures, stitched as issued, with a contemporary inscription on the titlepage. EVANS 22952. NAIP w014343. $8500. 186. Verwyst, F. Chrysostom: CHIPPEWA EXERCISES BEING A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION INTO THE STUDY OF THE CHIPPEWA LANGUAGE. Harbor Springs, Mi.: Holy Childhood School Print, 1901. [1],iv,[3],494,[2],i-vi pp. 12mo. Original cloth. Some wear on outer joints. Internally very clean. A very good copy. A substantial work, prepared for use at the Franciscan school for Indian children in Harbor Springs, Michigan, and printed by the children in the school print shop. $900. 187. Vetromile, Eugene: THE ABNAKIS AND THEIR HISTORY. OR HISTORICAL NOTICES ON THE ABORIGINES OF ACADIA. New York: James B. Kirker, 1866. 171pp. including illustrations in text, plus seventeen plates comprised of eight tinted lithographs and nine engravings. Engraved titlepage. Original blindstamped green cloth, spine gilt. Two old institutional stamps. Very good. An interesting and comprehensive history of the natives of the Maine region. There are chapters on Abnaki public and private life, their character, social customs, and religion, and a chapter on the Indians of California. The tinted lithographs are reproduced from Vetromile’s Indian Good Book, and the engravings include images of Vetromile travelling by sled, a missionary preaching to Indians, an Indian dance, an Indian council, and a hunter. Eugene Anthony Vetromile (1819-81) was born in Gallipoli and educated at Georgetown College in Washington, D.C. His missionary work was almost exclusively done in Maine, and he wrote extensively on the Abnaki peoples. FIELD 1602. PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 4011. PILLING, ALGONQUIAN, p.510. HASKELL MAINE 1310. SIEBERT SALE 231. $1000. Black Hawk War 188. Wakefield, John A.: HISTORY OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE SAC AND FOX NATIONS OF INDIANS.... Jacksonville, Il.: Printed by Calvin Goudy, 1834. 142pp. 12mo. Modern crushed red morocco by Riviere & Son, tooled in gilt, spine richly gilt, gilt inner dentelles. Rear board stained in upper portion, bookplate on front pastedown. Closed tear in first preface leaf expertly mended, else internally quite clean. A handsome copy. A scarce and valuable account of the Black Hawk War and other Indian troubles, by a firsthand witness, including the account of the captivity of the Hall sisters as related by Sibley Hall. Wakefield based his account of the 1827 campaign on oral reminiscences and newspaper accounts, but he was a participant in the last two campaigns. He served as a scout and dispatch-bearer and was wounded at the battle of Axe River. This is not the first printing of an account of the Hall captivity, but that contained in the 1832 pamphlet, Narrative of the Capture and Providential Escape of..., was so full of errors that this may be noted as the first accurate account, and the first in book form. Interestingly, many participants in this war were to become prominent (e.g. Abraham Lincoln, whose company was disgraced for being intoxicated; Jefferson Davis; Zachary Taylor; and James Clyman, the latter a famous mountain man who rode with Jedediah Smith in 1824 and was mess mate to Lincoln). "One of the few first-hand accounts of the Indian wars in Illinois and Michigan" – Eberstadt. Not in Ayer. GRAFF 4510. BYRD 213. HOWES W19, "b." SABIN 100978. DECKER 33:319. STREETER SALE 1449. EBERSTADT 132:727. $1750. Washington and Knox Report 189. [Washington, George]: [Knox, Henry]: UNITED STATES, DECEMBER 30th, 1794. GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. I LAY BEFORE YOU A REPORT MADE TO ME BY THE SECRETARY OF WAR RESPECTING THE FRONTIERS OF THE UNITED STATES [caption title]. [Philadelphia: Childs and Swaine, 1794]. 7pp. Printed on a single folded folio sheet, stitched. A bit of light foxing. Very good, untrimmed and unopened. In a half morocco box. A very rare report and a remarkably frank and candid assessment from Secretary of War Henry Knox regarding conflicts with Indians on the frontier, especially in Ohio Territory and Georgia. With a candor that no modern Defense Secretary could approach, Knox lays much of the blame for conflicts with frontier tribes at the feet of unruly, grasping Americans: "The desires of too many frontier White people to seize by force or fraud upon the neighbouring Indian lands has been, and still continues to be, an unceasing cause of jealousy and hatred on the part of the Indians, and it would appear upon a calm investigation that until the Indians can be quieted upon this point and rely with confidence upon the protection of their lands by the United States, no well grounded hope of tranquility can be entertained. The encroachment of White people is incessantly watched, and in unguarded moments, they are murdered by the Indians. Revenge is sought and the innocent frontier people are too frequently involved as victims in the cruel contest. This appears to be a principal cause of Indian Wars...It seems that our own experience would demonstrate the propriety of endeavouring to preserve a pacific conduct in preference to a hostile one with the Indian tribes. The United States can get nothing by an Indian war, but they risque men, money and reputation. As we are more powerful and more enlightened than they are, there is a responsibility of national character, that we should treat them with kindness and even liberality. It is a melancholy reflection that our modes of population have been more destructive to the Indian natives than the conduct of the Conquerors of Mexico and Peru. The evidence of this is the utter extirpation of nearly all the Indians in most populous parts of the Union." Knox does not directly blame the United States government for the past treatment of the Indians or for the conduct of settlers on the frontier, but he encourages the President to continue the practice of making treaties with the tribes, and also recommends the construction of more forts on the frontier, especially along the boundaries with Indian tribes. Knox also encourages the tribes to be proactive in handing over members responsible for the killing of whites, in order to dampen reprisals from settlers. Washington, in transmitting the report, observes: "I feel confidence that Congress will devise such constitutional and efficient measures as shall be adequate to the great objects of preserving our treaties with the Indian tribes, and of affording an adequate protection to our frontiers." NAIP locates only three copies, at the Library of Congress, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Boston Athenaeum. A fascinating review of American Indian policy in the early days of the Republic. Rare. EVANS 29776. NAIP w027116. $9500. 190. [Wilcocke, Samuel Hull]: A NARRATIVE OF OCCURRENCES IN THE INDIAN COUNTRIES OF NORTH AMERICA, SINCE THE CONNEXION OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF SELKIRK WITH THE HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY, AND HIS ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH A COLONY ON THE RED RIVER.... London. 1817. xiv,152,[4],87pp. Modern blue morocco, raised bands. A very good, fresh copy, untrimmed. This pamphlet presents a brief outline of the establishment and growth of the Selkirk Colony from 1812, and attempts to defend and justify the North West Company’s actions as the natural consequence of the encroachments, hostilities, and provocations of Lord Selkirk and the Hudson’s Bay Company. Although sometimes attributed to Simon McGillivary and Edward Ellice the elder, the work was probably prepared by Samuel Hull Wilcocke, "a hack-writer in the employ of the North-West Company" (TPL). The pamphlet was issued under the direction of the London representatives of the North West Company to counter charges of unwarranted aggression and destruction of the Selkirk settlement on the Red River, leveled against them by John Halkett in his Statement Respecting the Earl of Selkirk’s Settlement (1817). LANDE 1313. TPL 1108. STREETER SALE 3675. PEEL 50. VLACH 761. GAGNON II:1948. SABIN 20699. $1600. 191. Williamson, Peter: THE LIFE AND ASTONISHING ADVENTURES OF PETER WILLIAMSON, WHO WAS CARRIED OFF WHEN A CHILD FROM ABERDEEN AND SOLD FOR A SLAVE. Glasgow: Printed for the Booksellers, [nd, ca. 1830]. 24pp. Title-page vignette. 12mo. Titlepage surrounded by an ornamental border. Contemporary decorated papers wrappers. Middle eight leaves loosely laid in. Very good. A classic Indian captivity narrative, first published in 1758 under the title, French and Indian Cruelty. Vail calls this "the most popular of all Indian captivities." Peter Williamson was born in Scotland, but was kidnapped and sold into bondage in Pennsylvania when he was eight years old. His master proved kind and ultimately his benefactor, leaving Williamson enough money to marry and establish himself on a farm near the forks of the Delaware. In 1754 he was captured by Indians, probably Delawares, held captive for three months, and submitted to various tortures and humiliations. Escaping in January 1755, he joined the army and was first sent to Boston, then with the expedition to defend Oswego. When Oswego was captured by the French, he was wounded and taken prisoner. Finally he was paroled and sent to England, arriving in November 1756. Williamson seems to have been a popular figure in Scotland, whence he returned in 1758. Many chapbook editions of his captivity narrative appeared into the 19th century. This edition includes a wonderful engraved portrait of a young Williamson, wearing a top hat and sailor’s outfit. Vail notes that the present edition has been dated from 1800 to 1830. In our opinion, the typography would seem to lean toward a date of 1830. OCLC locates only seven copies. Scarce. VAIL 1275A. AYER 323. SABIN 104478. HOWES W500. OCLC 5241951. $750. 192. Withers, Alexander S.: CHRONICLES OF BORDER WARFARE, OR A HISTORY OF THE SETTLEMENT BY THE WHITES, OF NORTH-WESTERN VIRGINIA: AND OF THE INDIAN WARS AND MASSACRES, IN THAT SECTION OF THE STATE; WITH REFLECTIONS, ANECDOTES, &c. Clarksburg, Va.: Published by Joseph Israel, 1831. 319pp. plus advertisement leaf. Contemporary calf, leather label. Spine worn. Tanned, soiling and foxing. Early ownership signatures. Overall a good plus copy. Without the four leaves constituting the table of contents, found only in some copies. One of the classic compilations concerning the settlement of the Ohio country, with many a gory tale of torture, the stake, and the scream of the captive. "Of this scarce book, very few copies are complete or in good condition. Having been issued in a remote corner of Northwestern Virginia, and designed principally for a local circulation, almost every copy was read by a country fire-side until scarcely legible. Most of the copies lack the table of contents. The author took much pains to be authentic, and his chronicles are considered by Western antiquarians, to form the best collection of frontier life and Indian warfare, that has been printed" – Field. HOWES W601. SABIN 104928. FIELD 1690. STREETER SALE 1107. THOMSON 1257. AYER 338. $1000. New England’s Prospect, with the Rare Map 193. Wood, William: NEW ENGLANDS PROSPECT. A TRUE, LIVELY, AND EXPERIMENTALL DESCRIPTION OF THAT PART OF AMERICA, COMMONLY CALLED NEW ENGLAND: DISCOVERING THE STATE OF THAT COUNTRIE, BOTH AS IT STANDS TO OUR NEW-COME ENGLISH PLANTERS; AND TO THE OLD NATIVE INHABITANTS.... London: Printed by Tho. Cotes for Iohn Bellamie, 1635. [8],83,[5]pp. plus folding woodcut and letterpress map. Small quarto. 20th-century crimson morocco, gilt, bound for Myers & Co. of London, spine in three compartments with raised bands, lettered in gilt in the second compartment, gilt turn-ins. Map close shaved to margins with two old neat repairs on verso. Upper margins shaved, touching headlines and an occasional page number. Neatly repaired worm track through outer blank margins of title and text leaves to C4. The rare second edition of Wood’s New England’s Prospect..., with the very rare map: one of the classic works on early New England, important for descriptions of the land, natives, and its handsome map. The first edition of this remarkably accurate work was published in 1634. According to Vail it includes the earliest topographical description of the Massachusetts colony. It is also the first detailed account of the animals and plants of New England, as well as the Indian tribes of the region. Of particular note is a chapter describing the customs and work of Indian women. Part One is divided into twelve chapters and is devoted to the climate, landscape, and early settlements, and describes in some detail the native trees, plants, fish, game, and mineral ores, as well as including advice to those thinking of crossing the Atlantic. The early settlements described include Boston, Medford, Marblehead, Dorchester, Roxbury, Medford, Watertown, and New and Old Plymouth. These chapters also include four charming verses which are essentially a series of lists naming the native trees (twenty lines, starting "Trees both in hills and plaines, in plenty be, / The long liv’d Oake, and mournfull Cyprus tree / ..."); the animals (twelve lines, starting "The kingly Lyon, and the strong arm’d Beare, / The large lim’d Mooses, with the tripping Deare, / ..."); the birds (twenty-eight lines, starting "The Princely Eagle, and the soaring Hawke, / Whom in their unknowne wayes there’s none can chawke: / The Humberd for some Queenes rich Cage more fit, / Than in the vacant Wildernesse to sit, / ..."); and the inhabitants of the seas and rivers (twenty-eight lines, starting "The king of waters, the Sea shouldering Whale, / ..."). The chapter on the birds also includes what are clearly eye-witness descriptions of a number of birds including the Hummingbird and the Passenger Pigeon. Part Two is devoted to the native inhabitants and is divided into twenty chapters. The tribes described are the "Mohawks," "Connectecuts," "Pequants and Narragansetts." Again Wood goes into some detail describing the clothing, sports, wars, games, methods of hunting and fishing, their arts, and ending with their language: the work ends with a five-page vocabulary of Indian words, one of the earliest published for New England. The map, one of the most important early New England maps (and often lacking from the book) is here in a crisp, clean, fine example. It is the second state of the map, the same as appeared in the 1634 first edition, but with a reset heading, changing the date to 1635. It shows most of the New England coast north of Narragansett Bay. Philip Burden praises the map: "An extremely influential and very rare map, the most detailed of the emerging settlements in New England to date...Although simply made, this map is of greater accuracy than any before it. Covering the area from the Pascataque River, in present day New Hampshire, to Narragansett Bay, it is, however, the Massachusetts Bay area that is shown with the most detail...Wood’s map was not improved upon until the John Foster [map] in 1677." It is the first map of the region made by a resident, William Wood, and the first to name Boston and some thirty other English or Indian settlements. The delineation of the coast is very well done, and it influenced John Smith, whose 1635 map includes a three-line inscription referring to Wood’s map as the source for new information, and also shows new towns depicted on Wood’s map. "Little is known of the author. The dedication to Sir William Armine, Bart., of Lincolnshire, may indicate that Wood was also from there. He was resident in New England, perhaps primarily in Lynn, from 1629 to 1633, when he returned to London to publish his book. He may have returned to New England afterward. The General Court of Massachusetts Bay voted thanks to him on the appearance of New England’s Prospect. The exceptional charm and vivacity of Wood’s writing, including flights of verse, is widely acknowledged" – Siebert sale. BURDEN 239. SCHWARTZ & EHRENBERG, p.100. McCORKLE, NEW ENGLAND IN EARLY PRINTED MAPS 634.1. THE WORLD ENCOMPASSED 213. MAPPING BOSTON, pp.23-24, plate 9. VAIL 89. CHURCH 433. STC 25958. SABIN 105075. PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 4199. PILLING, ALGONQUIAN, p.535. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 635/134. JCB (3)II:258. SIEBERT SALE 96. $75,000. 194. [Wright, Asher]: A SPELLING BOOK IN THE SENECA LANGUAGE: WITH ENGLISH DEFINITIONS. Buffalo-Creek Reservation, Mission Press. 1842. 112pp. Original unbound folded sheets. Very good and clean, entirely in original condition, uncut and untrimmed. In a half morocco and cloth case. Wright was a missionary printer among the Indians near the present site of Buffalo. The Indians were eventually moved south as the population pressure grew, and Wright moved with them. The introduction includes the following apology: "To those who may be inclined to criticise the style of our printing, we would remark, that we have no Italic type, and but one size of Roman letter...To furnish ourselves with Italic, and another size of Roman, with the capitals for each, sufficient for our little establishment, would require about $150, before the type could be cast, and the whole expense would vary little from $400...." Productions from Wright’s mission press are very rare. PILLING, PROOF-SHEETS 4253. $3000. |
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