Letters and notes on the manners, customs, and condition of the North American Indians
First sentence
As the following pages have been hastily compiled, at the urgent request of a number of my friends, from a series of Letters and Notes written by myself during several years' residence and travel amongst a number of the wildest and most remote tribes of the North American Indians, I have thought it best to make this page the beginning of my book; dispensing with Preface, and even with Dedication, other than that which I hereby make of it, with all my heart, to those who will take the pains to read it...
Description
George Catlin self educated artist, paintings in oil, water colour, realizing the red man's existence was rapidly becoming adulterated with many exaggerated stories from settlers,so called mountain men, & explorers in general, decided to take off alone, ill prepared for the adventure ahead, fearlessly into Indian country. His written input is kept to a minimum thus allowing his images to make his statements. With such an honest simplistic approach to his art he was allowed an honesty & realism from his subjects others have failed to capture. Of all the versions shown here, the 1876, Chatto & Windus version is by far the best. It is an amazing digital conversion. All the illustrations are in color and while they are not Catlin's exact illustrations, they are the color copies that were made for this 1876 edition. The person who did this conversion did a wonderful job.