Presented here and being auctioned is a single very rare book, Volume I of the three part (Folio) set, printed in 1838 by the Philadelphia firm of Frederick W. Greenbough, 206 pages.  History of the Indian Tribes of North America with Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs Embellished with Portraits from the Indian Gallery in the Department of War, at Washington.  Folio size (15” x 21”), all edges gilt, with gilt title on banded spine.  Overall condition is good with minor shelf and use wear to boards, binding is tight, pages bright, and all 48 plates and 205 pages present.  Only scattered occurrences of very light foxing and one page with 2 pieces of old scotch tape on it.  We do not have volumes II or III.

The folio volume was produced using a then innovative structure-single sheets glued into a binding.  Now a very common binding style with great advances in adhesives, this binding type, called a cautchouc binding, was cutting edge in its time. 

McKenney and Hall's Indian Tribes of North America books have long been renowned for their 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.  "The most colorful portraits of Indians ever executed" (Howes).  Thomas Loraine McKenney's goal in commissioning the Indian Tribes of North America was both to educate the American public about these greatly exotic warriors and chiefs and to preserve them for posterity in a series of beautiful portraits.  Most of the original oil portraits were painted from life in studio of Charles Bird King, to whom McKenney brought many of the subjects.  The rest were copied from watercolors executed in the field by a young frontier artist named James Otto Lewis.   Once finished the portraits were housed in the Smithsonian, where they remained until an 1865 fire burned down the institution and destroyed most of the paintings.  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.  After six years as Superintendent of Indian Trade, Thomas McKenney had become concerned for the survival of the Western tribes.  He had observed unscrupulous individuals taking advantage of the Native Americans for profit, and his vocal warnings about their future prompted his appointment by President Monroe to the Office of Indian Affairs.  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 Winnebago Indians in the present state of Michigan.  His journeys provided an unparalled opportunity to become acquainted with Native American tribes. 

As a result the folio and octavo editions are vital in their "faithful recording of the features and dress of celebrated American Indians who lived and died long before the age of photography" (McKenney-Hall Portrait Gallery, 23).

The director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs asked artist Charles Bird King (1785-1862) to paint the portraits of Native Americans for an Indian museum in Washington.  Five hang in the White House today.

As superintendent of the Indian Trade Bureau and head of the U.S. War Department's Bureau of Indian Affiars, Colonel Thomas Loraine McKenney spent a great deal of time and money researching the life and culture of the American Indian.  He established an Indian Portrait Gallery by selecting portrait painter Charles Bird King to illustrate the chiefs and principle Indians visiting Washington and the Great White Father (U.S. President).  After teaming with Philadelphia writer James Hall (1793-1868), Thomas McKenney (1785-1859) captured the history and tragic plight of the native inhabitants in his famous portfolio, History of the Indian Tribes of North America.

This is one of the most important works ever produced on the American Indians and certainly one of the most elaborate and beautiful plate books from the period.  The striking hand-colored images have caused many of these sets and volumes to be broken for its plates that can sell for thousands of dollars each.  As complete volume sets they have sold in excess of $120,000.00.  We have set the reserve at a fairly low price with the intention of selling this wonderful single volume book.  We are not experts in the field of rare books; however we have received expert opinions to price and sell this book.  Please ask questions prior to bidding and we will answer them to the best of our ability. Only serious bidders, confirmed and verified are welcome.  Thank you for looking.