[Limited] NAVAJO MEDICINE MAN: Sandpaintings and Legends of Miguelito [SOLD]

NAVAJO MEDICINE MAN Sandpaintings and Legends of Miguelito from the John Frederick Huckel Collections

by Gladys A. Reichard

J. J. Augustin Publisher, New York, 1939

Hardback book in slipcover. First edition 1939 published only in 500 copies.  There are 24 full color silk-screen printed plates of illustrations of sandpaintings, 9 text figures and an original etching by H. F. Kraus of Miguelito, 83 pages of text. 4to. xvi, Frontispiece.  Book measures 13-1/2 x 10-3/8 inches.  Each color plate of a sandpainting is illustrated also in a black and white drawing with explanations of the figures.  Very good condition.  It does not appear to have ever been used by the former owners of Prices’ All Indian Shop in Old Town Albuquerque.

Contents

Preface

Explanatory Foreword

Introduction

Miguelito Navajo Medicine Man

The Navajo Religion

Legend and Sandpaintings of the Bead Chant

Legend and Sandpaintings of the Male Shooting Chant: The Visit to the Sun

Legend and Sandpaintings of the Male Shooting Chant: Adventures among Earth People

Legend and Sandpaintings of the Male Shooting Chant: Encounters with Sky and Buffalo People

Artistry of Legend and Sandpainting

From the back cover:

This book reproduces sandpaintings of the Navajo Bead Chant and Shooting Chant, two of the most important Navajo rites, together with a thorough description and explanation of these rites and the legends associated with them. The Shooting Chant is one of the most important healing ceremonies and perhaps the richest in sandpaintings of all Navajo chants. The Bead Chant is typical of the evil-chasing phase contained in most chants. The paintings were done by a respected and revered Navajo medicine man, an expert in chants and painting, who also narrated the legends in this book and explained their meaning and symbolism. Despite the resurgence of interest in sandpaintings, this is one of the few books in the area that contains authentic forms and presents them in their original symbolic and mythical context.