Folio (560 x 433 mm). Letterpress title-page, "To the Reader" leaf, and 8 leaves of letterpress descriptions of the first 25 plates. 31 lithographed plates with hand-coloring heightened in gum arabic, mounted on card within ink-ruled border and without numbering or captions as issued. (7 mounts with marginal tears or chips, all but 2 chips present, some minor spotting or staining to a few plate mounts, plates bright.) Text: Contemporary cloth-backed wrappers (some minor spotting or staining). Text and plates laid in to original publisher's half morocco portfolio gilt, morocco label gilt on upper cover (spine and corners expertly renewed, minor loss of cloth to upper cover); cloth folding case. 

THE VERY RARE 31-PLATE HAND COLORED ISSUE of the North American Indian Portfolio including SIX NEW PLATES

The 6 new plates comprise: “Joc-O-Sot, the Walking Bear;” “Mah-To-Toh-Pah, the Mandan Chief;” “O-Jib-Be-Ways;” “Buffaloe Hunting;” “The War Dance;” and “The Scalp Dance”.

Catlin first issued his portfolio of 25 plates in the fall of 1844. He had originally intended a larger work of four portfolios comprising 100 total plates, but financial mismanagement stalled the project and only one portfolio was issued.  Shortly after its publication in 1844, Catlin sold the copyright to London publisher Henry Bohn, who kept the book in print through several reissues until the 1860s.  Bohn then sold the copyright, along with his entire publishing operation, to Chatto & Windus, who discovered that Catlin had prepared 6 additional lithographic stones in 1844 which were never published. 

“Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio is one of the most impressive books of Western Americana, ranking behind only the Bodmer atlas to Maximilian’s travels and the Edward Curtis portfolios in major illustrated works on the West” (Best of the West 81). Bennett 22; Field 258 (earlier issue: "These beautiful views of scenes in Indian life are probably the most truthful ever presented to the public"); Howes C-243 ("b" with no reference to card issue); Wagner-Camp 105a:2.