Beschreibung:

The Life, History, and Travels of Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh, (George Copway) A Young Indian Chief of the Ojebwa Nation.
Philadelphia: James Harmstead, 1847. 12mo (181 x 110 mm). Portrait frontispiece. Publisher’s patterned cloth, front cover and spine lettered in gilt. Condition : scattered minor foxing; very minor rubbing at corners. Provenance : Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (presentation inscription to him by Copway on the front free endpaper, “Presented / to / Pappa Longfellow / Cambridge Mass. / by / Kahgegagahbowh”). [With:] Tremont Temple, Sunday Evening, April 15. Meeting to consider the Condition and claims of the North American Indians . . . The Chief Will Appear in Costume. [Boston: Seaman, 1849?]. Small broadside or handbill (295x145 mm). Mounted onto the rear endpaper of the above. presentation copy of the first autobiography by a native american, inscribed to henry wordsworth longfellow. First published in Albany in early 1847, Copway’s popular autobiography described his youth among his tribe in Canada. The book and his speaking tour were intended to raise funds and awareness at a time of conflict between the United States and the Lake Superior Chippewa, who were resisting removal from their lands. Longfellow first met Copway in April 1849, the date of the inscription in this volume. In Boston on a speaking tour, Copway arranged meetings with both Longfellow and Francis Parkman. The former wrote in his diary on 26 February: “Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh an Ojibway preacher and poet came to see us. The Indian is a good-looking young man. He left me a book of his, an autobiography” (quoted in Ruoff and Smith; editors, Life, Letters and Speeches of George Copway, 1997). Longfellow and Copway began a correspondence over the next few years and it is assumed that their friendship was in part an inspiration for The Song of Hiawatha. This copy, in near fine condition, is the second edition of the work and stated on the title as the sixth thousand. Howes C770; Sabin 16716.