This
beautifully hand coloured original antique folio lithograph print of
KA-TA-WA-BE-DA (Katawabeda) “Old Tooth” of the Chippeway
Tribe
was engraved and hand coloured in 1841 - the date is
engraved at the foot of the print - by J.T. Bowen and
was published in the folio edition of McKenny-Hall`s
History of the Indian Tribes of North America
published between 1837 and 1844
McKenney
and Hall's Indian Tribes of North America has long been
renowned for its faithful portraits of Native Americans.
The portrait plates are based on paintings by the artist
Charles Bird King, who was employed by the War
Department to paint the Indian delegates visiting
Washington D.C., forming the basis of the War
Department's Indian Gallery. Most of King's original
paintings were subsequently destroyed in a fire at the
Smithsonian, and their appearance in McKenney and Hall's
magnificent work is thus our only record of the
likenesses of many of the most prominent Indian leaders
of the nineteenth century. Numbered among King's sitters
were Sequoyah, Red Jacket, Major Ridge, Cornplanter, and
Osceola.
As first director, McKenney was to improve the
administration of Indian programs in various government
offices. His first trip was during the summer of 1826 to
the Lake Superior area for a treaty with the Chippewa,
opening mineral rights on their land. In 1827, he
journeyed west again for a treaty with the Chippewa,
Menominee , and Winebago in the present state of
Michigan. His journeys provided an unparalleled
opportunity to become acquainted with Native American
tribes. When President Jackson dismissed him from his
government post in 1839, McKenney was able to turn more
of his attention to his publishing project. Within a few
years, he was joined by James Hall, a lawyer who had
written extensively about the west.
Both
authors, not unlike George Catlin, whom they tried to
enlist in their publishing enterprise, saw their book as
a way of preserving an accurate visual record of a
rapidly disappearing culture. (Gilreath). McKenney
provided the biographies, many based on personal
interviews, and Hall wrote the general history of the
North American Indian. This was the most elaborate plate
book produced in the United States to date, and its
publication involved a number of different printers and
lithographers. The publication of volume I (in 1836) was
initially undertaken by Edward C.Biddle, Biddle's firm
was taken over by Frederick W. Greenough, who re-issued
vol.I and published the first issue of vol.II in 1842.
Later, Greenough's firm was replaced by the printing
firm of Rice and Clark who reissued vol. I and vol.II
and published the first issue of vol.III in 1844. The
printing of the plates was chiefly carried out by Peter
Duval of Lehman and Duval and James T. Bowen.
(Ref: BAL 6934; Bennett p.79; Field 992; Howes M129;
Lipperhiede Mc4; Reese, American Color Plate Books 24;
Sabin 43410a).
General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - Off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Blue, grey, red, brown.
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 18in x 13in (495mm x 344mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning, light spotting
Plate area: - Small repair not affecting the image,
light offsetting
Verso: - Light age toning & spotting
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