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Price: US$12000.00 + shipping
Description: First edition of Catlin's important work on the Mandan people and their rituals, one of the only records of the Mandan tribe which was almost entirely exterminated in the smallpox epidemic of 1837. Octavo, original publisher's green beveled cloth with gilt titles and double gilt ruling to the front panel, illustrated with thirteen tissue-guarded chromolithographic plates after Catlin by Simonau & Toovely, half-title present, coated green endleaves, all edges gilt. From the library of American businessman and amateur archaeologist William H. Claflin Jr. with his pictorial bookplate to the pastedown. In near fine condition. Rare and desirable, especially in this condition. American portraitist and painter George Catlin spent nearly fourteen years among the tribes of the North American Indians and left the most authentic anthropological record of the swiftly vanishing people. He wrote O-Kee-Pa in response to an article that appeared in an 1866 issue of Truebner's that attributed him as the author of an "indescribably lascivious pamphlet" on the secret customs of the Mandans. O-Kee-Pa is therefore as much a defense of Catlin as of the Mandans, a tribe native to the west side of the Missouri River, most of whom were destroyed by a smallpox epidemic in 1837. Catlin states in his preface that of the many customs he had recorded, nothing was so peculiar and surprising as the O-kee-Pa ceremony of the Mandans which was a crucial part of their survival and incorporated a number of "shocking" sexual rituals which, considered too salacious for the general public, were included in a separately issued three-page "Folium Reservatum," in an edition of approximately twenty-five copies. Because the Mandan were almost completely exterminated by smallpox in 1837, virtually no other documentation of this ceremony exists. Field 262; Sabin 11543.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$12500.00 + shipping
Description: vii,52pp. including half title, plus thirteen full-page color plates depicting the Mandan Torture Ceremony. Modern three-quarter morocco and marbled boards, spine gilt. Bookplate on front pastedown. Original front wrapper bound in at rear. Some light foxing and soiling. Very good. First American edition, using the same sheets and printing as the London edition of the same year, but with a cancel titlepage. Catlin spent some fourteen years among the various North American Indian tribes and left the most authentic anthropological record of an already vanishing people. He wrote O-KEE- PA in response to an article appearing in an 1866 issue of Truebner's monthly catalogue. The article attributed to Catlin the authorship of an "indescribably lascivious pamphlet" on the secret customs of the Mandans (see Sabin 11528). O-KEE-PA is as much a defense of Catlin as of the Mandans, a tribe who were mostly found on the west side of the Missouri River, most of whom were destroyed by a smallpox epidemic in 1837. Catlin states in his preface that of all the numerous customs which he had recorded, nothing was so peculiar and surprising as the O-kee-pa ceremony of the Mandans. The curious rite of O-kee-pa is shown in "horrible fidelity" (Field) in the thirteen outstanding color plates. The explicit details of the sexual elements of the ceremony were considered too shocking for the general public and were included in a separately issued three-page "Folium Reservatum," purportedly issued in an edition of approximately twenty-five copies, not present here. BENNETT, p.22. FIELD 262. HOWES C244, "b." SABIN 11543. McCRACKEN, CATLIN, pp.101-8, 25A&B. REESE, BEST OF THE WEST 170 (ref).
Seller: William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$14000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 8vo., (10 x 6 6/8 inches). Half-title. Frontispiece and 12 chromolithographic plates after Catlin by Simonau & Toovey (first few leaves a bit loose, minor marginal soiling with an occasional spot). Original maroon bevelled cloth, upper cover decorated in gilt with title in central panel, all edges gilt by Edmonds & Remnants with their ticket on the rear paste-down (head and foot of spine chipped, small tears at joints); "Folium Reservatum" bound separately in modern green cloth. First American edition, published simultaneously in London, and from the same sheets, but with a cancelled title-page, with the EXCEPTIONALLY RARE "[FOLIUM RESERVATUM.]" ISSUED IN AN EDITION OF 25 COPIES bound separately. This account of the Mandan buffalo dance ceremony, or O-Kee-Pa, is a highly important historical survival, as the Mandans, who lived on the upper Missouri, were practically wiped out by smallpox in 1837, shortly after Catlin's visit. O-Kee-Pa was a religious ceremony filled with frenzied dances and highly-charged sexual pantomimes, followed by torture and mortification of the flesh. The explicit details of the sexual elements of the ceremony were considered too shocking for the general public, hence its separate and limited publication of the "Folium Reservatum" much later. George Catlin, an illustrator from Philadelphia, was the first artist to travel widely among the Plains Indians of North America and create an important body of paintings and graphics to illustrate their customs and artifacts. His purpose was both unselfish and romantic. He wanted, and labored unceasingly, to persuade his contemporaries that Native American culture should be honored and preserved. In 1827 he became the first artist to attempt the perilous journey up the Missouri River, and the first to create visual records of his experiences traveling among the Plains Indians of North America. The artist himself best expressed his goal in the preface to the first edition of his celebrated North American Indian Portfolio in 1844: "The history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy the lifetime of one man, and nothing short of the loss of my life shall prevent me from visiting their country and becoming their historian." Field 262; Sabin 11543. Catalogued by Kate Hunter
Seller: Arader Galleries - AraderNYC, New York, NY, U.S.A.