Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 2) / With letters and notes, written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing

G. Catlin The Author painting a Chief at the base of the Rocky Mountains.
With Letters and Notes,
Written during Eight Years of Travel and Adventure among the Wildest and most Remarkable Tribes now Existing.
By GEORGE CATLIN.
WITH THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY COLOURED ENGRAVINGS FROM THE AUTHOR’S ORIGINAL PAINTINGS.
IN TWO VOLUMES.—VOL. I.
London: CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 1876.
LONDON: PRINTED BY J. OGDEN AND CO., 172, ST. JOHN STREET, E.C.
OUTLINE MAP OF INDIAN LOCALITIES in 1833 .
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.
If it be necessary to render any apology for beginning thus unceremoniously my readers will understand that I had no space in these, my first volumes, to throw away; nor much time at my disposal, which I could, in justice, use for introducing myself and my works to the world.
Having commenced thus abruptly then, I will venture to take upon myself the sin of calling this one of the series of Letters of which I have spoken; although I am writing it several years later, and placing it at the beginning of my book; by which means I will be enabled briefly to introduce myself to my readers (who, as yet, know little or nothing of me), and also the subjects of the following epistles, with such explanations of the customs described in them, as will serve for a key or glossary to the same, and prepare the reader’s mind for the information they contain.