O-kee-pa: A Religious Ceremony; and Other Customs of the Mandans. London: Truebner and Co., 1867. vi, [2], 52 pp. 13 chromolithographed plates. 8vo. Original brownish red cloth, by Edmonds & Remnants, stamped in gilt and blind, a.e.g. Custom chemise and slipcase. Foxed, predominately to preliminary leaves, but occasionally throughout, hinges partially cracked, light wear to binding, but generally excellent. FIRST AUTHORIZED EDITION OF THIS RARE ACCOUNT OF A VIOLENT MANDAN INDIAN RITUAL. A detailed account published to counter a "garbled and surreptitious issue" (Howes) published a year earlier. Catlin, who indignantly denied authorship of the earlier work, here sets the record straight with a thorough recounting of the ritual he had witnessed only five short years before the tribe was decimated by smallpox in 1837. The text veers into the gruesome with a description of the brave young men who, after four days fasting, are skewered and then hung from the ceiling by their skin, weights dangling from skewers in their legs, betraying no indication of pain for the duration. Field 262 (American ed); Howes C244; Sabin 11543. Acquisition: Laird Park sale, Sotheby's New York, Nov 29, 2000, lot 51, $14,400.
O-kee-pa: A Religious Ceremony; and Other Customs of the Mandans. London: Truebner and Co., 1867. vi, [2], 52 pp. 13 chromolithographed plates. 8vo. Original brownish red cloth, by Edmonds & Remnants, stamped in gilt and blind, a.e.g. Custom chemise and slipcase. Foxed, predominately to preliminary leaves, but occasionally throughout, hinges partially cracked, light wear to binding, but generally excellent. FIRST AUTHORIZED EDITION OF THIS RARE ACCOUNT OF A VIOLENT MANDAN INDIAN RITUAL. A detailed account published to counter a "garbled and surreptitious issue" (Howes) published a year earlier. Catlin, who indignantly denied authorship of the earlier work, here sets the record straight with a thorough recounting of the ritual he had witnessed only five short years before the tribe was decimated by smallpox in 1837. The text veers into the gruesome with a description of the brave young men who, after four days fasting, are skewered and then hung from the ceiling by their skin, weights dangling from skewers in their legs, betraying no indication of pain for the duration. Field 262 (American ed); Howes C244; Sabin 11543. Acquisition: Laird Park sale, Sotheby's New York, Nov 29, 2000, lot 51, $14,400.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
