SANTA FE, N.M. – When American financier and railroad executive Edward H. Harriman subscribed to Edward Curtis’ The North American Indian, he was among a small few to receive the premium version printed on India Proof Paper, referred to as “tissue.” It is estimated there were less than 15 subscriber sets printed this way as others of equal measure were sent to JP Morgan and the King of England.
On November 6, Santa Fe Art Auction sold Harriman’s set of The North American Indian for $1,080,000 including premium.
The volumes were numbered 308 from a proposed series of 500, though only 272 sets were ever produced. Santa Fe Art Auction called it “the finest and most important obtainable complete set of Volumes of Curtis’ monumental work, The North American Indian.”
Volume I was signed by Curtis and the set came in the publisher’s original hand-bound brown half morocco gilt and buckrum, the top edges gilt and others uncut, and was stamp-signed by H. Blackwell.
The set passed from the Edward H. Harriman family to the Mary H. Harriman Foundation. In 1999, the set was purchased by Christopher Cardozo, the late Curtis scholar whose collection the auction house has been selling since June 2021.
For additional information, www.santafeartauction.com or 505-954-5858.
