2 volumes. ix, [2], 298; xii, 303, [1] pp. Illustrated with 180 color lithograph plates (including maps, 1 of which is folding) containing 320 images from original paintings by Catlin. 9¾x6¼, decorative red cloth, stamped and lettered in black and gilt, top edges gilt.

Catlin's Letters and Notes on...North American Indians, originally published in 1841. This edition with striking color plates; the first edition had uncolored plates, several editions over the next 30 years had hand-colored plates, but not until 1876 was an edition published with plates printed in color. Catlin traveled through the West in the 1830's, painting portraits of Indians and recording their habitats, weapons, rituals, ceremonies, etc., creating during that decade an "Indian Gallery" of great renown. After taking the entire gallery to England, Catlin published his "Letters & Notes," using text from a series of articles he had written for the New York Commercial Advertiser from 1832 to 1837, and illustrating it with line-cut reductions of his original paintings. Howes C241; Wagner-Camp 84.