History of the Indian Tribes of North America: With Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs (3 Volumes)

 Thomas L McKenney; James Hall

Philadelphia : D. Rice & A.N. Hart, 1855

[Landmark Work in 19th Century Ethnology with Exquisite Colored Portraits of American Indians] 3 volume set. Octavos.  Bound in publisher's morocco, stamped in blind.  Minor shelf wear to covers.  All edges gilt. Yellow paper end pages.  A handsome, crisp set. Collated, complete: iv, 333; xvii, [1], 9-290; iv, 17-392 pp.  120 colored plates by J.T. Bowen, most after Charles Bird King, some by James Otto Lewis and George Cooke.  According to Howes the plates are "the most colorful portraits of Indians ever executed". Charles Bird King was employed by the War Department to paint portraits of visiting Indian delegates.  King painted from life Indian leaders of at least twenty tribes, including: Sequoyah, Red Jacket, Major Ridge, Cornplanter, and Osceola.  Most of King's original paintings in the Indian Gallery of the War Department, were destroyed in the 1865 Smithsonian fire at the Smithsonian Castle.  As a result, these books contain one of the only surviving records of King's portraits.  

Third edition, second octavo. The first octavo edition appeared in 1848-50, following the folio edition of 1836-1844. 

Refs: Howes M129; Sabin 43411; Field 992.