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The North American Indian (1907-1930), by Edward S. Curtis, was published in a limited edition and sold by subscription. The lavishly illustrated volumes were printed on the finest paper and bound in expensive leather, making the price prohibitive for all but the most avid collectors and libraries. Subscriptions sold for about $3,000 in 1907; the price rose to about $4,200 by 1924. Although the plan was to sell 500 sets, it appears that Curtis secured only about 220 subscriptions over the course of the project. In 1935 the assets of the project were liquidated, and the remaining materials were sold to the Charles Lauriat Company , a rare book dealer in Boston. Lauriat acquired nineteen unsold sets of The North American Indian, thousands of individual prints, sheets of unbound paper, and the handmade copper photogravure plates. They lay forgotten in the bookstore’s basement until their rediscovery in the 1970s, which marked the revival of interest in Curtis’ haunting images of American Indians.
Edward S. Curtis
Original Edward Curtis Print Collection For Sale
The set owned by Northwestern University was donated by J.P. Morgan, Curtis’ sponsor. It consists of twenty volumes in original bindings containing text and illustrations and twenty portfolios of individual plates reproduced by the photogravure process. The following statement is made by Northwestern University Library, The North American Indian was published and copyrighted between 1907-1930. Northwestern University Library is not aware of any current U.S. copyright or other restrictions on the use of the publication.
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Click here for: Original Edward Curtis Print Collection For Sale (on Velum Rice Paper)
Each volume measures 12 inches high, 10 inches wide and about 3 2/5 inches thick. Each is bound in half leather, that is, the spine and the four corners of the front and back covers are covered in a high quality brown Levant morocco leather. The covers themselves are laminated binders board; the central panel on each board is covered with a heavy tan cloth. The text block within each volume measures 11 inches high, 9 1/2 inches wide and 2 to 2 1/2 inches thick; the text itself occupies an area 8 1/8 inches high by 5 inches wide on each page. Each volume has in gold foil stamping on the spine a simple line decoration with the set’s title at the top, the author, volume number in roman numerals, tribe(s) in the volume and the publication date of the volume at the foot of the spine. Volumes 1-14 were bound by H. Blackwell, while volumes 15-20 were bound by Whitman Bennett, NY, as indicated at the top of the front free flyleaf.
Original Edward Curtis Print Collection framed on Velum For Sale
There are around 75 photogravure plates in each bound volume, with image sizes averaging 5 1/2 by 7 1/2 inches; each accompanying portfolio holds around 35 loose photogravure sheets, with image sizes averaging 12 by 16 inches. In total, there are 1506 plates in the bound volumes and 722 plates in the portfolios, for a total of 2228 plates.
Images of Indians of North America
American Indians of the Pacific Northwest
Ogalala Girls
The Edward S. Curtis Photogravure Printing Process
Curtis utilized the process of photogravure, a photochemical printmaking process invented in 1879.
A photographic image is transferred to a copper plate which is chemically etched. The plate is hand-inked for each print. The process is rarely used today due to the costs involved, but it produces prints which have the subtlety of a photograph and the art quality of a lithograph. In essence, the production of a photogravure consists of three steps: taking the picture; producing a printing plate of the image; and printing the image on paper.
Spotted Bull
After taking a picture, a glass transparency is made from the negative. Next, a copper engraving plate is dusted with grains of bitumen and heated so that the bitumen becomes attached to the plate. A carbon print which has been exposed beneath the transparency is then transferred to the plate. The plate is then bathed in warm water which causes the unexposed gelatin of the carbon print to be washed away, leaving the image in relief. Ferric chloride is then applied to the plate and eats into the copper in proportion to the highlights and shadows of the gelatin relief. The result is an etched copper plate of the original photographic image.
The final printing step involves spreading ink evenly across the plate and then pressing the plate onto the paper. The combination of the chemical and mechanical process produces an image both warm and precise. A photogravure looks like a photograph but is a series of connected lines, rather than unconnected dots as in a photograph. The rich sepia ink and handmade paper used for the Curtis photogravures are the final elements in the production of the beautiful art prints of the North American Indian.
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Below are Original Edward S. Curtis Volumes
The Apache. The Jicarillas. The Navaho. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1907
Plates in Original Volume 81 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections Portfolio
Pl. 1-39
The Pima. The Papago. The Qahatika. The Mohave. The Yuma. The Maricopa. The Walapai. The Havasupai. The Apache-Mohave, or Yavapai. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1908
Plates in Original Volume 75 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections Portfolio
Pl. 40-75
The Teton Sioux. The Yanktonai. The Assiniboin. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1908
Plates in Original Volume 78 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 76-110, 119
The Apsaroke, or Crows. The Hidatsa. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1909
Plates in Original Volume 74 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 111-147
The Mandan. The Arikara. The Atsina. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1909
Plates in Original Volume 74 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 148-183
The Piegan. The Cheyenne. The Arapaho. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1911
Plates in Original Volume 75 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 184-219
The Yakima. The Klickitat. Salishan tribes of the interior. The Kutenai. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1911
Plates in Original Volume 75 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 220-255
The Nez Perces. Wallawalla. Umatilla. Cayuse. The Chinookan tribes. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1911
Plates in Original Volume 77 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 37 images
Pl. 256-292
The Salishan tribes of the coast. The Chimakum and the Quilliute. The Willapa. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1913
Plates in Original Volume 75 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 293-328
The Kwakiutl. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1915
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections Plates in Original Volume 74 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 329-364
The Nootka. The Haida. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1916
Plates in Original Volume 76 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 365-400
The Hopi. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1922
Plates in Original Volume 75 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 400*-435
The Hupa. The Yurok. The Karok. The Wiyot. Tolowa and Tututni. The Shasta. The Achomawi. The Klamath. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1924
Plates in Original Volume 75 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 436-471
The Kato. The Wailaki. The Yuki. The Pomo. The Wintun. The Maidu. The Miwok. The Yokuts. /Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1924
Plates in Original Volume 74 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 472-507
Southern California Shoshoneans. The Diegueños. Plateau Shoshoneans. The Washo. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1926
Plates in Original Volume 75 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 508-543
The Tiwa. The Keres. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1926
Plates in Original Volume 75 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 544-579
Click here for: Original Edward Curtis Print Collection For Sale (on Velum Rice Paper)
The Tewa. The Zuñi. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1926
Plates in Original Volume 74 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 580-615
The Chipewyan. The Western woods Cree. The Sarsi. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1928
Plates in Original Volume 75 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 616-651
The Indians of Oklahoma. The Wichita. The southern Cheyenne. The Oto. The Comanche. The Peyote cult. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1930
Plates in Original Volume 76 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 36 images
Pl. 652-687
The Alaskan Eskimo. The Nunivak. The Eskimo of Hooper Bay. The Eskimo of King Island. The Eskimo of Little Diomede Island. The Eskimo of Cape Prince of Wales. The Kotzebue Eskimo. The Noatak. The Kobuk. The Selawik. / Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1930
Plates in Original Volume 78 images
Plates in Northwestern University McCormick Library of Special Collections 35 images
Pl. 688-722
Original Edward Curtis Print Collection on Velum For Sale
Click here for: Original Edward Curtis Print Collection For Sale (on Velum Rice Paper)
Edward S. Curtis is the greatest indian photographer in our history.