Edward Curtis: absolute ultimate photo book reproduced

jtk · Mar 31, 2018

ENDORSEMENT

“Mr. Curtis, because of the singular combination of qualities with which he has been blest, and because of his extraordinary success in making and using his opportunities, has been able to do what no other man has ever done [...] the information that is to be gathered, for the benefit of future generations, respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost for all time.”
— President Theodore Roosevelt

Special Pre-Publication Price: $5,500 (includes free shipping).
Upon publication, or once initial quantities have sold, the price will increase to $6,500 + approximately $330.00 shipping.

Expected shipping date: late May 2018. Customers have the option to receive each Volume incrementally, or to receive the entire set in one shipment. Please indicate your preference in your order notes.

photo-eye also has a very limited number of Custom Edition Sets available. The Custom Edition is published in an edition of 75 leatherbound copies, with pigment ink images. To inquire, please contact us by email or telephone +1 (505) 988-5152 x201

For general inquiries, please email us or call +1 (505) 988-5152x201

Ordering Information
This item is currently not-yet-published, however you may preorder it through photo-eye.

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Publisher/artist Cardozo talking:

BrianShaw · Mar 31, 2018

Finally.

AgX · Mar 31, 2018

I must admit I did not even know of the original edition. Have you got an idea how big the print run of it was?

EDIT:
I looked it up: 222

Bob Carnie · Mar 31, 2018

Was not the original books comprised of hand tipped Pt Pd prints???

cowanw · Mar 31, 2018

Curtis did do Platinum and silver as well as other media types prints, but the books and the cast majority of his prints were gravures.
Here is the entire work
http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/
Here is his web site which has lots of information
https://edwardcurtis.com/
as well as the origin of this book being advertised here. Although I am not sure why, at risk of being the Grinch, we are advertising one book store here.

CMoore · Mar 31, 2018

Wow.....what a commendable undertaking.
It is not something i will ever be able to afford, but if i DO win the lottery, i know where the first 7k is going to.
Curtis must have gotten a grant for his original series.?
He came along at a Very Sad time for the First Americans, but also a Very Important historical time. Wounded Knee, Pancho Villa, The closing of the "frontier", etc etc.
Anybody know how many original volumes were ever made.? I have always heard it was very small......like in the 400 range.?
Anyway.....this is all very impressive indeed. Would be AWESOME to own one of these sets...!!

cowanw · Mar 31, 2018

Apparently 220 out of a projected 300 sets.
from the Smithsoniam,"The Morgan Company acquired rights and sold 19 complete sets of The North American Indian, along with thousands of prints and copper plates, to Charles Lauriat Books of Boston, Massachusetts for just $1,000 and a percentage of future royalties."
These were found in the basement in the 1970's and interest was reinvigorated by the Flury Gallery
http://fluryco.com/about

jtk · Mar 31, 2018

cowanw said:
Apparently 220 out of a projected 300 sets.
from the Smithsoniam,"The Morgan Company acquired rights and sold 19 complete sets of The North American Indian, along with thousands of prints and copper plates, to Charles Lauriat Books of Boston, Massachusetts for just $1,000 and a percentage of future royalties."
These were found in the basement in the 1970's and interest was reinvigorated by the Flury Gallery
http://fluryco.com/about

I don't know anything about the formal origins of any of this, but I doubt very much that Lauriat or Fluryco remain as committed to any Curtis project as the publisher of this new new publication. The original project wasn't done to best possible level of its era's production (which as we know would be digital today). therefore anybody who could afford this new production would prefer it to the "original."

If you have a favorite publisher or gallery, ask them about that. I doubt many of the galleries or publishers most of us know rival the group that's behind this edition.

If others have not let you know about it, they may not be as committed to this as Photo-Eye and its peers..

cowanw · Apr 1, 2018

You said "he original project wasn't done to best possible level of its era's production" I wonder if you could expand on that and what might have been done better in 1907?
PS I can't find the ISBN for the republication.

jtk · Apr 1, 2018

cowanw said:
You said "he original project wasn't done to best possible level of its era's production" I wonder if you could expand on that and what might have been done better in 1907?
PS I can't find the ISBN for the republication.

I'm not going to engage in what's-better-and-when, other than to note that you can find examples somewhere on my post. It should shock nobody to read that the best quality is done on the best paper with the best craftsmanship, and that was reportedly not entirely the case in the first publication .

The set has yet to be distributed...which may mean ISBN is not yet assigned.

It was technically difficult to post some of what's above because that part was a one-day-and-gone pre-publication email notice to people known to a particular group of top galleries who, unlike me, might have a history of actually purchasing very expensive books or fine prints,..in my local case that's Photo Eye Gallery (and publisher) in Santa Fe, NM.

Most people who actually care about America's past benefit by Curtis's informational, though sometimes somewhat fake, visual depictions of Native American clothing .
No matter the print quality, his photographs remain important gifts from the past (see Teddy Roosevelt's Endorsement). Unfortunately, few will ever see this series due to realities of price. With luck, sometime in some far distant future, perhaps we'll be able to see the whole thing online.

cowanw · Apr 1, 2018

I may be wrong but I think it is available on line at the reference I already posted, clicking on the little pluses here bring up the pages.
http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/curtis/toc.cgi
If it's just the images anybody wants, Taschen has a very nice little book and they do a good job with reproduction.

jtk · Apr 1, 2018

cowanw said:
I may be wrong but I think it is available on line at the reference I already posted, clicking on the little pluses here bring up the pages.
http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/curtis/toc.cgi
If it's just the images anybody wants, Taschen has a very nice little book and they do a good job with reproduction.

Yes, as is obvious, you're "wrong." This is a SET OF BOOKS, not mere online images of individual prints per your link (or dubious "original" prints sold by dealers).

Nobody able to afford this set, or prints of many of the hundreds of reproductions of images you've suggested, "just" wants those images without Curtis's information. Nobody's that tuned-out.

And of course, today's type is undoubtedly a lot more legible than in the originals, which would make reading more rewarding..

Taschen almost always does a "good job" and anybody that can afford this new set would find Taschen's little book handy.for visitors, dogs, and kids with grubby little hands.

If you have not personally gotten this Curtis book announcement, that suggests you've not visited any of the publisher's authorized dealers. In New Mexico we have only the one in Santa Fe. If your state doesn't have such a place, move.

I posted this info fore people who are interested in Curtis, not to engage in argument.

CMoore · Apr 1, 2018

jtk said:
Yes, as is obvious, you're "wrong." This is a SET OF BOOKS, not mere online images of individual prints per your link (or dubious "original" prints sold by dealers).

Nobody able to afford this set, or prints of many of the hundreds of reproductions of images you've suggested, "just" wants those images without Curtis's information. Nobody's that tuned-out.

And of course, today's type is undoubtedly a lot more legible than in the originals, which would make reading more rewarding..

Taschen almost always does a "good job" and anybody that can afford this new set would find Taschen's little book handy.for visitors, dogs, and kids with grubby little hands.

If you have not personally gotten this Curtis book announcement, that suggests you've not visited any of the publisher's authorized dealers. In New Mexico we have only the one in Santa Fe. If your state doesn't have such a place, move.

I posted this info fore people who are interested in Curtis, not to engage in argument.

It's hopeless.
See my post about Annie Leibovitz.
I had no idea she was a No Talent, Shallow, Hack until i mentioned she was part of a Huge, online, Masterclass series of videos that seemed like a good deal...if somebody were into that.
The bashing of her and on-lime classes that followed was humorous and depressing at the same time.
It's "The Internet".........you could post a photo of an empty coffee cup and start an 11 page civil war.

cowanw · Apr 1, 2018

I suppose I was wrong to think one could have a general discussion in the General Discussion Forum. I think I have been polite throughout. I have nowhere commented negatively about the book you promote but have provided additional information for the Forum. You seem to have taken offence. Perhaps to my wondering if it is appropriate to copy post an add from outside of The forum's classified adds. As per the posted rules. "Please refrain from posting any ads linking back to Ebay auctions or any other system outside of the APUG classifieds. APUG classifieds are intended for member to member sales. This is not a link farm to ebay listings and other business entities. Any such ads may be removed."
Sadly, I fear you have not even done me the courtesy of bothering to look at the reference from Northwestern university. It is a complete scanned copy. Of the 20 volume book and the portfolios.
For the benefit of others who might be interested.
To quote the front page from the university.
"The entire work is presented here, supported largely by funds from the Institute for Museum and Library Services."

Click on "enter the site"
http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/index.html

AgX · Apr 2, 2018

cowanw said:
Perhaps to my wondering if it is appropriate to copy post an add from outside of The forum's classified adds. As per the posted rules. "Please refrain from posting any ads linking back to Ebay auctions or any other system outside of the APUG classifieds. APUG classifieds are intended for member to member sales. This is not a link farm to ebay listings and other business entities. Any such ads may be removed."

Maybe I miss your point. But isn't any hint at a new product we make here at Photrio a kind of advertising for it?
(Though in this case I would have used a different wording at the title and would not have taken over the original ad. But that rather is an issue of style.)
Concerning links to Ebay listings, we even got a long thread at Apug "Interesting things at Ebay" and noone complaint so far.

I myself, not into collecting rare books, find it interesting to learn about an endeavour of reprinting a rare book.

cowanw · Apr 2, 2018

AgX, I will PM you.
Bill

jtk · Apr 2, 2018

AgX said:
Maybe I miss your point. But isn't any hint at a new product we make here at Photrio a kind of advertising for it?
(Though in this case I would have used a different wording at the title and would not have taken over the original ad. But that rather is an issue of style.)
Concerning links to Ebay listings, we even got a long thread at Apug "Interesting things at Ebay" and noone complaint so far.

I myself, not into collecting rare books, find it interesting to learn about an endeavour of reprinting a rare book.

YES.

It would be a mistake for an innocent bystander (me) to introduce a new book without mentioning the publisher, as I did here.

Publishers often send out pre-publication notices to interested parties...I'm one, though for financial reasons I'm far from a potential buyer.

Same applies to announcements of important exhibitions, which are sent out selectively to people who attend, or even buy from certain galleries. I once bought a $35 book from Santa Fe and because I know how wonderful that gallery is, I always sign their visitor books because I WANT their announcements.

This is a SET OF BOOKS, not mere online phenomena, however wonderful those can be. SET OF BOOKS.

Edward Curtis: absolute ultimate photo book reproduced

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