THE TRADITIONAL HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES OF THE OJIBWAY NATION
Early US issue of "the first tribal history in English by a North American Indian" (Smith 22).
Very good.
Price: $750.00
THE TRADITIONAL HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES OF THE OJIBWAY NATION
"In thus giving a sketch of my nation's history, describing its home, its country, and its peculiarities, and in narrating its traditionary legends, I may awaken in the American heart a deeper feeling for the race of red men, and induce the pale-face to use greater effort to effect an improvement in their social and political relations."
SKETCHES OF THE OJIBWAY NATION was Copway's second book, following his 1847 autobiography that "is believed to the first book to be published by an Aboriginal person in North America" (Lefebvre). Chapters in SKETCHES include overviews of the tribe's migrations, culture, wars, language and writing, government, religion, etc.
This Sanborn, Carter, Bazin & Co. edition was preceded by an 1850 London edition (as well as an 1850 Dublin, presumably from the same sheets) and an 1851 Boston (see Howes 772 and Sabin 16722). The Boston edition was published by Benjamin B. Mussey, which was subsequently succeeded by Sanborn & Carter, who became Sanborn, Carter, Bazin & Co. beginning in 1856 (from which we get our date attribution). Given the history of the publishing firm and the slightly different size of the title page from the rest of the text block, this edition (with the same pagination and typesetting, but omitting the two plates by Darly) is likely a re-issue of the original 1851 Boston edition sheets, but with a new title page. All 19th-century editions are scarce. A nice example of "Copway's most famous work" (Petrone 385) — a landmark book of Native American history and self-documentation.
Read more: Smith, Donald B., "The Life of George Copway or Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh (1818-1869)," Journal of Canadian Studies, Volume 23, Number 3, Fall 1988; Lefebvre, Benjamin, "Series Editor's Preface" to the 2014 Wilfrid Laurier University Press reissue of The Traditional History [...] of the Ojibway Nation; Petrone, Penny, "Indian Literature" in The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature.
The Object
Boston: Sanborn, Carter, Bazin & Co, [circa 1856]. 7.5'' x 4.5''. Original red stamped cloth with gilt spine titles. [xii], 13-266, [2] pages. Some chipping to spine ends. Moderate wear to extremities. Two former owner stamps to front free endpaper and a few brief penciled notations. Mild foxing throughout. Several brief passages underlined in pencil. Hinges strong. Overall clean and sound.
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