LEWIS, James Otto.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Aboriginal Port Folio. First edition of the first major colour plate book on Native Americans, one of the rarest 19th-century American colour plate books, and a landmark in the depiction of indigenous Americans. It is one of the earliest extended projects in American hand-coloured lithography.Lewis, under commission from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, attended Native American treaty ceremonies between 1825 and 1828, where he drew the tribal chiefs and ceremonies. This portfolio reproduces his artworks (the originals were destroyed in the 1865 Smithsonian fire) and provides a crucial record of indigenous dress and culture at the outset of the United States' aggressive westward expansion. They depict tribal members in detail, recording their mode of dress, face paint, jewellery, and weapons. Each plate names the sitter, their rank, and tribe, which include, among others, the Sioux, Miami, Chippawa, Ioway, Shawnee, Pottowattomie, Winnebago, Monomonie, Ottawa, Fox, and Sac.The Aboriginal Port Folio precedes, and is rarer than, the other great Native American colour plate books: George Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio, Karl Bodmer's Reise in das Innere Nord-America, and Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall's History of the Indian Tribes (which reproduces 27 of Lewis's portraits). The publication was issued in parts, each with eight plates. However, it struggled toward the end of its run. While the ninth part was still in press, Lewis had to reduce the edition size drastica

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