3

AmericAn TrAde Bindings wiTh

nATive AmericAn Themes

1875-1933

4

Margaret Armstrong, 1898The Adventures of Captain Bonneville U.S.A.by Washington IrvingG. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1898

5

AmericAn TrAde Bindings wiTh

nATive AmericAn Themes

1875-1933

Collected and Describedby

Richard Minsky

Stockport, New YorkRichard Minsky

2014

6

Copyright ©2014 Richard MinskyAll rights reserved.

Deluxe Edition ISBN-10: 0937258016

ISBN-13: 978-0-937258-01-9

7

May Todd Aaron Laura Adams ArmerSidney ArmerMargaret ArmstrongThomas Watson BallLouis BettsReginald B. BirchCarlton StudioWilliam De La Montagne CaryJohn Gadsby ChapmanFlorence ChoateF. Colburn ClarkP. J. ConkwrightAngel de Cora (Hinook Mahiwi Kilinaka)Earl Stetson CrawfordWill CrawfordRudolf CronauHarold James CueEdward S. CurtisElizabeth CurtisJohn Steeple DavisThe Decorative DesignersFrederic S. DellenbaughEdwin Willard DemingJoseph K. DixonMaynard DixonCharles Buckles FallsJoseph FinnemoreLeon GordonFrederic W. GoudyGeorge Bird GrinnellHester Dean GuieIsaac Brewster HazeltonFrank HazenplugEric A. HeggJohn P. HeinsGeorge W. HoodAdrian IorioAlbert Ernest JenksW. B. KingJ. E. LaughlinFrederic LowenheimFlorenece LundborgCharles MacDonald Manly

Walter McClintockP. B. McCordBlanche Helen McLaneMarie L. McLaughlinFrank T. MerrillFrank J. MurchAlbert OpertiRobert E. PearyCharles J. PostPoyegeJohn RaeFrederic RemingtonAmy RichardsRome K. RichardsonVolney A. RichardsonFrank A. RinehartCharles M. RussellJulian Harris SalomonHenry SandhamFrank Earle SchoonoverJulian Ruggles SeaveyRalph Fletcher SeymourA. B. ShuteLuther Standing BearMorgan SteinmetzBertha StuartJames R. Stuart Otto ToaspernWilliam Ladd TaylorLee ThayerSusette La Flesche Tibbles (Inshta Theamba, Bright Eyes)Allen TrueVan TsihnahjinnieRoger VernamL. ValentineEnoch WardCharlotte WeberWilliam Fletcher WhiteWaldo WilkieEmery Leverett WilliamsThompson WillingW. H. WolfStanley L. Wood

The Artists: Covers, Dust Jackets, and Illustrations by

8

Florence Lundborg, 1904Yosemite Legends by Bertha H. SmithPaul Elder and Company

9

The problem with cataloging this exhibition is that the books are so interesting it’s easy to get distracted by their contents. I knew very little about Native American history, and each book was a revelation. Several categories emerged of covers that represented different aesthetic paradigms and different approaches to the subject.

There are decorative Indian motifs used by well-known cover designers, book covers designed by Indian artists, covers presenting stereotypical representations of Indians, propaganda against marauding savages, propaganda from mission-aries and humanitarians, propaganda by Indians, juvenile adventure stories, books written by Indians to preserve oral history and culture, poetry, prehistoric fiction, autobiographies, travel-ogues, and more.

Seen together, these book covers give a visual representation from many perspectives of Native American cultures and their relationships with those who came from abroad. We think mostly of white Europeans in that regard, but you will also see books by an “Indian Chief” who died of an apparent suicide shortly after it was discovered he was the son of a “black” (by North Carolina racial standards of the time) janitor. Today his life is studied in the context of racial identity.

The books refer to diverse Aboriginal Peoples in the Americas, which made it challenging to find a suitable ethnonym for each listing, and for the essays. There are different endonyms among the nearly 700 Indian Tribal Entities in the United States, as well as individual preferences that may be contrary. The Inuit, Yupik and Aleut peoples in Alaska are distinct from American Indians, and I’ve adopted Alaska Natives when referring gener-ally to the region.

The term “First Nations” is preferred in Canada for most of the indigenous Indian peoples, and individual bands have chosen their own usages.

The Métis and Inuit are not Indians and are distinct from “First Nations” peoples.1,2  Usage of “First Nations” is migrating southward. Southern Oregon University has adopted it for southwestern Oregon and northern California.3

Names and spellings in catalog entries are as they appear in that edition. One listing may be “Navajo” and another “Navaho.” “Eskimo,” the early name for Inuit, is now rarely used in Canada, but was common during the period of these books. The name comes from an Algonquin term meaning “raw meat eaters,” and many people find the term offensive.1

My gratitude goes to those who have informed this catalog and assisted with its development. John Lehner remains the most consistent in this regard. He suggested several of the covers that you see here, and we discuss cover designs and attribu-tions by e-mail almost every day.

Suggestions of books for this exhibition also came from Robert Beasecker, Christina Kraus, Jeffrey Harding, Catherine Petruccione and Ronald Sollome.

Barbara Slate read the text and made numerous suggestions that improved the readability.

Thanks again go to Edward Levin for assis-tance in proofreading the text, correcting stylistic, conceptual and typographic errors. Any remaining errors are, of course, my sole responsibility.

The checklist of this exhibition is alphabetical by author, with the exception of two books that arrived late and five items that didn’t quite fit the parameters of selection but were included because they are interesting. These are at the end of the checklist.

1 Words First: An Evolving Terminology Relating to Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. See Reference, p70.2 A Note on Terminology: Inuit, Métis, First Nations, and Aboriginal. 3 First Nations Collection. Hannon Library Digital Collections.

Preface

12

Angel de Cora (Hinook Mahiwi Kilinaka)

In the Preface to Wigwam Stories by Mary Catherine Judd (Ginn, 1901), the author writes “… Miss Angel de Cora, a young Indian artist of great promise, has contributed three full-page sketches, the cover design, and numerous initials and designs.” The title page also gives de Cora’s Indian name, Hinook Mahiwi Kilinaka.

The Indians' Book by Natalie Curtis has title page and chapter titles by Angel de Cora, and the unsigned double cover design is most likely by de Cora. Curtis gave up the notion of a career as a concert pianist to become an ethnomusicologist. Though her narrative about gathering the content is a clear window into the cultures she visits, her self-identification is not as an author but the recorder and editor of the volume, which she says is written and illustrated by Indians. It contains songs, photos and artwork from Indian nations across North America [see also pp. 25, 43].

A Winnebago from Nebraska born in 1871, de Cora studied art at Smith College, illustration at Drexel Institute, and at Boston’s Cowles Art School.

The drawings are realistic, and convey the emotion of their characters, but do not hint at the geometric design of the unsigned cover. We would have had a difficult time guessing the attribution without the author's statement. One of the initials is signed with a “c” in a box—something to keep in mind for future attributions.

This was not Angel de Cora’s first work for a Boston publisher. The previous year she did the frontispiece (right) for The Middle Five by Francis LaFlesche [Small, Maynard, 1900]. It evokes the emotion of an Indian boy who has entered a Mission school, has to give up his Indian name and is forbidden to speak his language while he learns English. This is how the author was educated, and the book tells the story of his friends and their experiences. Based on the attribution in Wigwam Stories, the drawings in that book, and the lettering, I believe this unsigned cover is by de Cora.

In 1901 she illustrated Old Indian Legends by Zitkala Sa (Gertrude Bonin) for Ginn, and we attribute this unsigned cover to de Cora as well. She died of pneu-monia in Northampton, MA in 1919.

1901, p. 52 1901, p. 53

1901, p. 66

1907, p. 43

Angel de CoraFrontispiece from The Middle Five

13

E. Pauline Johnson

Canadian poet E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) was born on the Mohawk Indian Reserve in Brantford, Ontario in 1862. Her father, G.H.M. Johnson, was Head Chief of the Six Nations [see p. 51].

Inshta Theamba (Bright Eyes, Susette La Flesche Tibbles)An important Native rights activist, Bright Eyes contributed to several works in the exhibition.

Oo-Mah-Ha Ta-Wa-Tha (Omaha City) by Fannie Reed Giffen with illustrations by Susette La Flesche Tibbles was self-published in 1898. The contents include the text of the treaty with the Indians, biographies of the Chiefs, stories, and a chil-dren's song. The Preface by John Webster tells us that Bright Eyes is the daughter of Chief E-sta-mah-za (Iron Eye), and that her illustrations are the first artistic work of an American Indian ever published. The cover is unsigned, but in the same style as many of the illustrations, so we attribute it to Bright Eyes.

Illustration from Oo-Mah-Ha Ta-Wa-Tha for "A Dream Woman...This story is told by Waoo-winchtcha, wife of Iron Eye, and translated by her daughter, Dr. Susan Picotte, who is a graduate of the Woman's Medical College, of Philadelphia, and is a physician in the Omaha tribe" (the illustrator's sister).

In her mid 40s she was living in Vancouver, her health failing. Her friends arranged for the publication of Legends of Vancouver in 1911 to help raise money for her care. The book sold out several printings very quickly. Left is the undated 4th edition, with a 1911 copyright by the author. No publisher or place is identified, though we believe it is Vancouver. It was issued in an embossed card case binding sometime before her death in 1913.

We also have an edition [right] illustrated with photo-graphs, published by McClelland & Stewart in Toronto, with decorations by J. E. H. Macdonald, undated, with the publisher’s 1922 copyright.

Johnson’s complete poems, titled Flint and Feather, with illus-trations by J. R. Seavey, published by The Musson Book Company in Toronto, was so popular it went through at least 23 print-ings by 1931. First published in 1912, we have the Fifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged, 1917, in a gold stamped suede Yapp edge limp binding with a symbolic crossed spear and feather. The Ninth Edition, 1924, is in horizontally ribbed cloth stamped in a coppery faux gold with a symmetrical design of arrows and feathers [see the dust jacket on p. 51].

Ploughed Under: The Story of an Indian Chief, told by himself with an Introduction by Inshta Theamba (Bright Eyes) is not by an Indian Chief, but is by William Justin Harsha, a popular pastor. In the introduc-tion Bright Eyes chastises those who want to exterminate the Indians. She calls for equality and citizenship. Apparently she also had a hand in editing the

text and providing Harsha with enough descriptions and facts to give the story credibility. We have two copies, apparently identical biblio-graphically, one in taupe, the other in red cloth, with the same design stamped in black. The red copy has deeper stamping. It is possible that the stamping of each is from a different engraving of the same image, as there are details on the red copy not on the taupe, but that might be from the different impression. The spine of the taupe copy is slightly more ornate, with an additional decorative border.

1881, p. 491898, p. 46

14

Figurative Imagery

An Indian man in full feathered headdress adorns many covers, and there is always at least one feather in his hair. Very few covers feature an Indian woman.

The earliest book in this exhibition, Charles McKnight’s Our Western Borders 100 Years Ago, features the requisite Indian on the spine. The cover is emerging from Victorian design with a full panel illustration of a fron-tiersman in black, but the lettering hearkens back—one would think intentionally, based on the title.

Charles Eastlake’s Hints on Household Taste was just beginning to have a wide influence on style. The American edition was published in 1872. In 1880 the same publisher issued McKnight’s Simon Girty [pp. 30, 57] incorpo-rating several Eastlake elements on the covers and spine.

1893, p. 63

1875, p. 56

1900, p. 50

1890, p. 40

1899, p. 43

1900, p. 401900, p. 65

1900, pp. 23, 47

15

1907, p. 65

1901, p. 39

1910, p. 52

1905, p. 50

1907, p. 58

1908, p. 52

The figure on The Indians of To-Day [facing page]is adapted directly from Frank Rinehart’s photo of Swift Dog [see p. 23]. We don’t know who rendered the line interpretation of the photo for the stamping die and chose to colorize the shield yellow and red. The cypher of Claude Bragdon is under the publisher’s device on the back cover [see p. 47]. That device is Bragdon’s work. Perhaps he did the cover as well, but Frank Hazenplug was doing most of Stone’s covers at the time.

It’s likely that Hazenplug (also known as Hazen—he shortened his name in 1911) designed the unusually colored figure for The Lonesome Trail, an unsigned cover from John Lane. It looks like his work, he was fond of orange, and Lane was one of his clients.

Adrian Iorio’s distinctive monogram is on The Basket Woman by Mary Austin. This copy is rubber-stamped on both front and back endpa-pers with “Dr. George G. Hunter, Los Angeles, Cal.” He was the author’s brother. His daughter lived with Mary Austin, who considered him an unfit parent. Her biographer wrote:

“The dispute between George Hunter, a respected Los Angeles neurologist, and his sister escalated into a bitter feud that was apparently unresolved when he was murdered by a deranged female patient while making a house call in 1933.”

[Lanigan, Esther F. see References p. 70]

1904, p. 39

20

IllustrationsThere are so many illustrations in this exhibition’s books that they could become another exhibition. Many interesting discoveries were made while looking at them.

We have two printings from Little, Brown of Eastman's Wigwam Evenings that use the same illustrations by Edwin Willard Deming and have the same covers, but were produced by different printers. Both are undated, ©1909 [see p. 45]. One has the illustrations in halftone and the other has line renderings. In comparing the illustration that was adapted for the cover art, the image is signed E. W. Deming on the halftone reproduction, but in the line rendering the signature is gone and replaced with an unusual monogram. In the future we will know that is Deming's cipher.

That is not the only book in the exhibition that uses line drawings in one edition and halftones in another. Generally letterpress halftones or photogravures are used for photographs, but in the Wanamaker Primer we see one version (1910, Second Edition) with line renderings of the Dixon photos from the Indian Expedition, and in the Hiawatha edition (n.d., ©1909) the same photo is reproduced in halftome [see p. 38]. The lighter horizontal bands in the image are from the type on the verso.

21

In The Vanishing Race, Dixon’s photos are reproduced by photogravure [see pp. 33, 44].

30

Captivity Narratives

Autobiographies of men and women who had been captured by Indians, often as children raised in the tribal culture, captivated the attention of many readers in the 19th century. Some are straightforward, others sensationalist.

In 1883 Lippincott published James Macaulay’s Grey Hawk, a juvenile adaptation of the 1830 book, Narrative of John Tanner’s thirty years’ captivity among the Indians [see p. 54]. There are many unattributed illustra-tions, and fortunately one is signed W. D. Cary. William De La Montagne Cary (1840-1922), renowned for his Western and Indian paintings and illustrations, based them on sketches he made during expeditions in 1861 and 1874. This copy is annotated in pencil throughout with comments and references to other sources.

As a child Tanner was carried off by a band of Shawnees, who sold him to an Ojibbeway chief whose wife adopted him. He assimilated, married an Indian woman, and as an adult worked as a guide and interpreter.

The story of Simon Girty: The White Savage has been retold many times by different authors. Sometimes portrayed as a villain and others a hero, Girty and his brothers were taken as children and adopted by Senecas. After seven years he was returned to his parents. During the Revolutionary War he switched allegiance and fought for the loyalists, serving with the Indian nations allied with the British. His later adven-tures, including participation in a ritual torture and execution, are vividly described.

The binding, with its combination of Eastlake decoration and a violent pictorial vignette, is in poor condition, but no other copy of the edition was found.

A Short Biography of John Leeth was reproduced in a limited edition by The Burrows Brothers Company in 1904 [see p. 50]. The binding is uniform with other volumes issued in their series, Narratives of Indian Captivities. The cover has the series title and generic subtitle, rather than what is on the title page.

1880, p. 57

43

Crane, Leo. Indians of the Enchanted Desert. Illustrated with photographs. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1925, First Impression, September. Midnight cloth stamped in turquoise, purple and orange with a panel vignette of an adobe building; orange lettering on cover and spine. 23.2 x 15.7 [DD]

Curtis, Natalie. The Indians’ Book. Illustrated with photo-graphs and drawings by Indians; title page by Angel de Cora (signed A de C). New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1907, September. Light brown cloth stamped in turquoise, brown and light yellow with a bold geometric design on both covers and spine; title on a paper spine label printed in green, tan and black, 25.5 x 18.5. Also a copy in light beige polished buckram with the same design in midnight green, yellow and orange-red, n.d., ©1923, L-E (Nov., 1930), 25.9 x 18.6, in a glassine jacket; and one in grey buckram, same design, but spine title on the cloth, in chipped, browned paper jacket with same design, n.d. ©1935, F-M (June, 1937). [Angel de Cora, unsigned, likely]

Dellenbaugh, Frederick S. The North Americans of Yesterday. 350+ illustrations. New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons; The Knickerbocker Press, 1906, April; 3rd printing, (1st was January 1901). Tan cloth stamped in brown with black outlines and details, with a sketch of a stone animal head from Copan, the sacred butterfly of the Mokis, and an arrangement of Puebloan scrollwork; spine figure from terra-cotta statue on p. 113, with scrollwork and Moki symbols. 23.2 x 16.4 [Dellenbaugh, Frederick S., signed F.S.D]

Dix, Beulah Marie. Soldier Rigdale. Illustrated by Reginald B. Birch. New York, London: The Macmillan Company, 1899. Tan cloth stamped in brown, russet, white and gold with an Indian man holding a bow, resting a hand on a gold shield text border, and a white soldier in cape and helmet holding a rifle. Between the two men is a campfire with gold flames, gold shields surrounding the titles, a gold ship on matte gold waves between two stylized gold dolphins, and a gold crab. Titles in russet and dark brown on cover and spine, gold sword and tomahawk on spine. 19.8 x 13.8

44

Dixon, Dr. Joseph K. (Ka-Ra-Kon-Tie, Flying Sun, Mohawk) The Vanishing Race. Illustrated with photogravures by Dr. Joseph K. Dixon. “The concept of Rodman Wanamaker” stated on title page. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1914, Second and revised edition. Russet cloth stamped in black, white, and gold with a vertical band, styled as a beaded belt, profile of a Native American man in a circular panel in front of the belt. Similar beaded design on spine with two arrows and a pipe. Titles on cover and spine in gold with black outlines. 25.5 x 18 [DD?]

Domville-Fife, Charles W. Among Wild Tribes of the Amazons. Illustrated with photographs and maps. Philadel-phia, London: J. B. Lippincott Company; Seeley, Service & Co., Ltd., 1924. Red linen-weave cloth stamped in gold with figure of a Native in leaf skirt and feather headgear holding a bow and arrows in one hand and a short pointed weapon in the other. 22.2 x 14.6

Drake, Samuel G. The Aboriginal Races of North America. New York: Hurst & Company, n.d., ©1880. Red cloth stamped in gold with three Native American men gathered around a fire, one stands holding a spear, two seated with pipes, in front of a teepee decorated with a man holding a gun and a pipe, another with a bow, and patterns; black title on cover, gold title on spine, both read Drake’s Indians of North America. Spine decoration in gold of a shield with pipe, tomahawk, spears, bow and arrow above title and an Indian man with bow, shield, tomahawk, and scythe below. 24.2 x 16.7

Du Bois, Constance Goddard. A Soul in Bronze. Chicago and New York: Herbert S. Stone and Company, 1900. Dark blue cloth stamped in orange and tan with a feather attached to a beaded cord, border echoes beaded cord. Orange titles on cover and spine. [lib, Uptown Branch sticker on spine]. 17.7 x 11.3 [Frank Hazenplug, unsigned, K254]

55

Markham, Richard. Colonial Days. Illustrated. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, n.d., ©1879-1880-1881. Dark green cloth stamped in gold, silver, orange and black with images of a ship, a soldier with rifle and bayonet stepping on a cannon, profile of an Indian, Indians rowing a canoe, and at the top, a running border repeating a shield over a lance, a tomahawk, a bow and a quiver of arrows; title in silver with gold initials on cover and spine, author in orange on cover, black on spine; the top border continues to the spine; silver figure of a soldier with shouldered rifle, and crossed swords at the bottom with a hat. Missing plain tan ffep replaced. Another copy, likely the first printing, [R, rubbed, faded, pieces missing from spine ends, rehinged] in olive green cloth with the same stamping, additionally with horizontal rules and a central decorative design stamped in blind on the back cover; printed endpapers with a repeat pattern of birds and branches (missing the ffep), inscription dated Christmas 1882. 22.8 x 19.2 [unsigned, likely the same unknown artist as Aboard the Mavis, the Bodley books, etc.]

Markham, Richard. Colonial Days. Illustrated. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, n.d., ©1879-1880-1881. Grey-blue cloth stamped in darker blue, black and brown with a fron-tiersman in fringed buckskin standing outside a log cabin pointing a smoking rifle at an Indian, who is falling back-wards, gold title with black border; scene wraps to spine with gold title, shield, plants; printed endpapers with pattern of leaves and flowers. Inscribed 1892. [R, faded, rubbed, spine ends gone. Also a copy in yellow buckram stamped with silver titles, plain endpapers. [R, soiled] 23 x 19.2

Markham, Richard. Colonial Days. Illustrated. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, n.d., ©1879-1880-1881. Diago-nally ribbed red cloth stamped in black and grey, a man with rifle, an Indian lying in front of him appears dead. Behind, a boy has turned away and is hiding in his mother’s dress, clutching her. On the side, a cabin, likely theirs, is in flames. Title in drop-out with black outline. This panel scene is surrounded with a pleasant floral border. Similar border on spine, title in drop-out with black border in a gold panel with most of the gold rubbed or flaked off. 23.3 x 19.2

72

Click the cover below tovisit the web page for this book

with information about editions and ordering

The Limited Edition cover features a cloth panel reproducing the unsigned cover design for The Indians' Book by Natalie Curtis, Harper and Brothers, ©1923, Revised edition. The design is likely by Angel de Cora (Hinook Mahiwi Kilinaka, Winnebago).