Details: CATLIN, George (1796-1872). Buffalo Hunt, A Surround. [Pl. 9]. [London: Henry Bohn, 1845]. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by McGahey, printed by Day & Haghe. Image size: 12 1/8 x 17 5/8 inches. Sheet size: 16 1/8 x 22 5/16 inches.

A fine image from Catlin's 'North American Indian Portfolio,' one of the most important accounts of native-American life.

"After the preliminaries of the chase have been gone through... and the hunting party have reached the vicinity of the herd, scenes like the one represented in this illustration often occur. On one occasion I was invited by the Indians to ride out and witness their attack on a herd of buffaloes, near one of their villages on the Upper Missouri, in the summer of 1832: I sat on my horse and witnessed a scene of this kind; a mode of attacking the buffaloes which they call Wa-rahs-took-kee, a surround."

Catlin summarized the Native American as "an honest, hospitable, faithful, brave, warlike, cruel, revengeful, relentless, -- yet honourable, contemplative and religious being." In a famous passage from the preface of his North American Indian Portfolio, Catlin describes how the sight of several tribal chiefs in Philadelphia led to his resolution to record their way of life: "the history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy of 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." He saw no future for either their way of life or their very existence, and with these thoughts always at the back of his mind he worked, against time, setting himself a truly punishing schedule, to record what he saw. From 1832 to 1837 he spent the summer months sketching the tribes and then finished his pictures in oils during the winter. The record he left is unique, both in its breadth and also in the sympathetic understanding that his images constantly demonstrate. A selection of the greatest of images from this record were published in the North American Indian Portfolio in an effort to reach as wide an audience as possible. The present image is one of the results of this publishing venture and is both a work of art of the highest quality and a fitting memorial to a vanished way of life.

Abbey Travel 653; Field Indian Bibliography 258; Howes C-243; McCracken 10; Sabin 11532; Wagner-Camp 105a:1.

For lots which include only books, our shipping charge applies to any address within the fifty United States. For lots which are not books, the stated shipping cost in this listing will apply only to addresses within the continental 48 states. Within those parameters, the shipping cost for this lot will be: $37.50