Indian Basketry. With 360 Illustrations.

Pasadena, Ca.: Published by the Author, 1902 Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Hard cover, 8vo, in green cloth with titles and basket illustration blocked in gold to the top board, and titles to spine, 274pp. plus several pages of advertising, including for the "Four Track Series" of travel books issued by the NY Central & Hudson River Railroad, and two galleries of southwestern Indian goods. ** Condition: Very Good. Slight wear to cloth at tips, light rubbing at top joint, head and tail of spine. Minor crack started at bottom front hinge, otherwise all in good order.** First issued in April 1901, James's work takes note of both anthropology and ethnography, describing the cultural symbolism of the wares in their various shapes, patterns and various ceremonial uses. This second edition has, according to the Appendix, "new and interesting material, both in illustrations and descriptions." (p. 234) It is both a guide to the collector and informative of the works of various tribes, including "the Mission Indians, the Yokuts, Pomas, Klamath, Navaho, Haida, Salish Stock, Makah and Attu peoples of the Pacific Coast, and of the Apaches, Chemehuevis, Hopi, Havasupais, Pimas and Paiutis in Arizona and thereabouts." **The Author, English-born George Wharton James (1858-1923) was an interesting turn of the century character. Trained as a Methodist minister, he moved to the American Southwest, becoming enamored of the indigenous people, the great opportunities for exploration and a promoter of outdoor life, while ministering to a congregational curcuit in Arizona and California. By 1889 however, he "returned to the desert" having been stripped of his religious occupations, embroiled in a divorce, fraud and presumably other various shady misdemeanors. A second career saw him emerge as a great promoter of the South West, a frequent lecturer and author of more than 40 books and pamphlets on his chosen subject. (His archives are held at the Huntington Library, CA.) . Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged.. Hard Cover. Very Good.