1865 Original Hand colored lithograph of a Winnebago from the first royal octavo edition of McKenney & Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America

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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA.

PORTRAIT FROM VOLUME III, THE PLATE IS FROM THE SUPERB 1865 ROYAL OCTAVO EDITION. McKenney & Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America: A very desirable important and appealing portrait from the superb 1865 royal octavo edition published by Rice & Rutter, Rice and Hart listed as publisher on the print, the litho printed & hand colored by J.T Bowen. Printed on nice thick paper, verso blank. The colors are very rich and deep. The plates from this collection are among the most superbly executed and historically important American lithos of the 19th century.

A Winnebago.
Hand colored, by J.T Bowen, Lithograph, 1865.
Paper size 10 1/4 x 6 5/8" (26.2 x 16.6 cm).
Great condition and color.

This original, hand-colored lithograph comes from the first octavo edition of McKenney & Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America, published by Rice  & Hart in Philadelphia and printed by J.T. Bowen between 1848 and 1850.

 An admirer and supporter of the American Indians, Thomas McKenney spent his tenure in office fighting for their cause and preserving their legacy through a gallery of paintings that were commissioned by various artists. Unfortunately, the original paintings burned in a fire, and all that is left to remember these Indians are the lithographs found in History which were modeled off the paintings.

This print is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction.  It is authentic. Due to its age, it may have slight imperfections such as foxing so, please, examine the octavo carefully to be satisfied, as photos tell better than words.

The Winnebago inhabited the Great Lakes region. McKenney and Hall's 'Indian Tribes of North America' has long been renowned for its faithful portraits of Native Americans. The portraits are largely based on paintings by the artist Charles Bird King, who was employed by the War Department to paint the Indian delegates visiting Washington D.C., forming the basis of the War Department's Indian Gallery. Most of King's original paintings were subsequently destroyed in a fire at the Smithsonian, and their appearance in McKenney and Hall's magnificent work is thus our only record of the likenesses of many of the most prominent Indian leaders of the nineteenth century.