Lot 215
Edward S. Curtis
(1868 - 1952)
The North American Indian -
Harriman Set Volumes I-XX, Alaska Expedition Volumes and Ephemera, 1907-1930
The North American Indian being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska. Edited by Fredrick Webb Hodge. Foreword by Theodore Roosevelt. Field Research conducted under the patronage of J. Pierpont Morgan. [Cambridge, Mass.], 1907-1930. 20 volumes: text, Quarto (313 x 239 mm). 1,511 hand-gravure printed illustrations, comprising 1,505 photogravures, including 35 hand-colored plates, 4 maps and 2 diagrams. Over three thousand pages of text and transcriptions of language and music. Hand letterpress printed on hand-made paper. In publisher's original hand-bound brown half morocco gilt and buckrum, top edges gilt, others uncut, stamp-signed by H. Blackwell. Each volume individually housed in a contemporary, custom, hand-made slipcase. Each numbered 308 in ink on the verso of the half-title page. Photogravures on India Proof Paper (‘tissue') etching stock. Volume 1 signed: Edward S. Curtis 1907.
LIMITED EDITION: Number 308 of 500 proposed sets of which only 214 were originally subscribed to, and only 272 sets ultimately produced, this copy on India Proof Paper ("tissue") tipped-in on Dutch Van Gelder, Volume I, signed by Edward S. Curtis and dated 1907. The exact number of original subscriber sets that were printed on tissue is not known but it is estimated to be fewer than 15. Edward Curtis, J.P. Morgan, E.H. Harriman and the King of England were among the few who received this premium version. The finest and most important obtainable complete set of Volumes of Curtis' monumental work, The North American Indian.
Provenance:
Edward H. Harriman Family, Original Subscriber
Mary W. Harriman Foundation
The Christopher G. Cardozo Collection, 1999
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Condition:
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This set is in excellent condition overall, exhibiting almost none of the characteristic offsetting and tissue burn that is commonly found. The bindings are remarkably fresh and bright. The gilt letter and details remain warm and lustrous. The included contemporary, custom, hand-made slipcase are in near pristine condition.
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