BLACKFEET INDIANS

(St. Paul): (Great Northern Railway), 1935. First edition. Near fine in very good minus jacket.. First printing of this beautifully illustrated history of the Blackfeet people, as told by the Montanan ethnographer and Native ally. Color portraits of individuals by Reiss with Linderman's impassioned introduction to the history and culture of the Blackfeet people, before and after European incursion: "[N]owhere has the white man stooped so low for gain as in the fur trade of the Northwest; nowhere has he been so reprehensible as in his treatment of the plains Indian...The American Fur Company's steamboat, Trapper, brought smallpox up the river in 1837. This devastating scourge swept through the tribes of the Northwestern plains like a poisoned gale." Linderman's brief but vivid biographical sketches accompany the remarkable illustrations. "Published For Those Who Love The West And Seek To Better Understand It," on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Glacier National Park, and dedicated to the Blackfeet. 12'' x 10''. Original quarter orange cloth with decorative blue-lettered orange paper covered boards. In original blue and orange dust jacket. Yellow endpapers. Illustrated with 49 full-page color portraits. Front hinge barely starting. Significant chipping and loss to jacket spine, extending to lower left corner of front panel; front and rear panels otherwise intact.