Existing comment:
George Catlin
Catlin's Notes of Eight Years' Travel and Residence in Europe, With his North American Indian Collection (vols. 1 and 2)
1848
embossed and gilt cloth covers, engraving and letterpress printing After their meeting in Paris, Humboldt and Catlin forged a strong friendship that lasted the rest of Humboldt's life. When the artist published his memoirs of the years he spent in Europe, he used his drawing of the Prussian naturalist, doffing his hat and extending a hand in friendship with one of the Iowa Indians, as the frontispiece of this two-volume book. Catlin took the same vignette and embossed it in gold leaf on the covers of the two volumes, pointing to his friendship with Humboldt as a seal of approval for his enterprise. For Catlin, Humboldt's imprimatur validated his efforts to depict American Indian ways of life and educate the public.
National Gallery of Art Library, David K. E. Bruce Fund |