The Indians Book: Authentic Native American Legends, Lore & Music [SOLD]

Illustrated with 8 plates in full color and more than 50 Native American drawings and turn-of-the-century photographs.

From the Dust Jacket:

The Native American Indians are the true authors of this unique and valuable classic: the art, songs, stories, and legends are their own creations, and the art comes directly from their hands. All these elements, however, have been faithfully transcribed by Natalie Curtis [1875-1926] and could not have been so beautifully and completely realized here without her inspired and gifted dedication. She has captured the poetic power of their narratives which clearly show that the Indian is, as she wrote, “artistic by nature. His art is not the luxury of the cultured few, but the unconscious striving of the many to make beautiful the things of daily living.”

The Indians’ Book contains 200 song-poems, as well as materials that include tales, legends, myths, and art, covering all aspects of Indian life: love and war, victory and hunting, rejoicing and thanksgiving. There are lullabies and laments, corn-grinding and corn-dance songs, and a great many others. The importance of song is paramount in the life of the Native American. In Indian culture, truth, tradition, history, an thought are preserved in rituals comprised of poetry and song. This book offers a faithful record, enhanced by descriptions and interpretations of those songs.

The drawings in this volume were all done by members of the various tribes represented here, many of whom had never held a brush before. But, as the editor claims, the Indians’ sense of form and color is inborn—the technique of handwork is his by nature. And further, technique is only the offspring of a larger gift which fashions the imagery of cloud, rain, star, and growing corn into symbols, and with those symbols composes decorative designs both beautiful and meaningful.

There are also valuable supplementary items in this edition of The Indians’ Book: a new bibliography, an appendix of notes on Indian languages appearing in the songs, and an extensive index.

In his insightful foreword, Robert Schwendinger pays eloquent tribute to Natalie Curtis and her achievements: “The history, folklore, and religious rites in The Indians’ Book represent the fruits of a monumental odyssey of patient and loving interviews with eighteen tribes from Maine to British Columbia. Curtis sought out those ceremonial leaders who were primarily venerable ‘keepers of the ancient lore,’ literally human depositories of an oral history that was in constant danger of being lost forever.” More than eighty years later, it is a satisfaction to realize that the purpose of the work to which Natalie Curtis gave so many years of unselfish effort has so largely been fulfilled. With the passing years, The Indians’ Book has become a valued treasure to musician, artist, poet, ethnologist, and historian alike. The publication of this new edition will offer enjoyment and enrichment to readers formerly unaware of this rare and wonderful work.