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Description: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