Information Respecting the Indian Tribes – Schoolcraft – 1853–1856 | 5v, Maps

A rare five-volume set of the Schoolcraft’s history of Native American Indian tribes. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft was an early American ethnologist and expert on Native American culture. He was well-known for his Congress-commissioned study on United States Indian tribes beginning in 1851, of which the content was considered ‘valuable scholarship’ by critics.

In 1847, the United States Congress passed an act which collected the history of Native American Indian tribes, a task which Schoolcraft headed. The final volume of the work proved to be the best as it was regularly published under the title The American Indian.

Schoolcraft’s studies on Indians are considered the most extensive works on Native Americans published in the 19th-century, and, according to Field contain

“a vast mass of really valuable information and has indeed performed a very important service for Indian history, in collecting and preserving an immense amount of historic data. Vocabularies of Indian languages, grammatical analyses, legends of various tribes, biographies of chiefs and warriors, narratives of captivities, histories of Indian wars, emigrations, and theories of their origin, are all related and blended in an extraordinary manner.”

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Information Respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States
• Author(s): Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
• Publisher: Philadelphia, Lippincott, Grambo
• Edition: First edition, 1853–1856
• Format: (4to), five-volume set
• Binding: Red cloth, binding and hinges professionally restored
• Size: ~ 12.75 in x 10.5 in (32.5 cm x 26.5 cm)
• Collation:
  • Vol. I: [2], xviii, 13–568 pp
  • Vol. II: xxiv, 19–608 pp
  • Vol. III: xviii, 19–635, [1] pp
  • Vol. IV: xxvi, 19–668 pp
  • Vol. V: xxiv, [25]–712 pp
• Illustrations: Numerous full-page engraved plates and maps throughout all volumes
• Contents Include:
  • Vocabulary and grammatical analysis of tribal languages (e.g. Tcho-ko-yem, Cop-eh, Arapahoe, Mandan, Cheyenne)
  • Narratives of Hernando de Soto’s Florida expedition
  • Biographies of Native leaders and warriors
  • Illustrations of Navajo wigwams, ceremonial attire, rock inscriptions
• Reference(s): Field 1373; Howes S 188; Larned 676

Condition:

Very Good. Original red cloth bindings restored at hinges, with moderate rubbing at corners. Pages and engraved plates are clean and complete throughout all volumes.

Why Collect This?

• Complete early federal survey of Native American tribe
• Contains rare early engravings, maps, and linguistic materials
• Commissioned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs

Item Number: #29397