CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY BELONGING TO MR. THOMAS W. FIELD. TO BE SOLD AT AUCTION, BY BANGS, MERWIN & CO., MAY 24th, 1875, AND FOLLOWING DAYS. NEW YORK. 1875. NOTICE. E 58 The collection of books described in the following pages is, beyond all question, the most extensive in its special department ever offered for sale. Its acquisition has been the unwearied occupation of Mr. Field for many years, and the result is an unusually complete series of books, on a subject which is daily increasing in its interest the American Indians. It is scarcely necessary for us to say, that it is simply impossible to study the history of this continent without reference to this topic. An entirely complete collection of books relative to the Indians, includes a large proportion of the works which compose American history. In the preface to his "Essay on Indian Bibliography," Mr. Field remarks: "A general catalogue of works illustrative of the history, literature, and archæology of the Aborigines of both Americas, had been in progress of composition for several years, as a guide to the author's collection of that class of books. As it grew in proportions, by the slow accretions which study and experience furnished, the author's vanity was easily flattered into the design of producing a work of more general utility. The material collected at length covered so wide a range, that it embraced not only transcripts of the titles of such printed works as were personally examined, or were to be found in catalogues of public and private libraries, with a collation of their pages, and synopsis of their contents, but also the titles of articles upon the same subjects, printed in reviews, historical collections, magazines, and other ephemera. More than two thousand five hundred separate works, and twelve hundred essays, had been catalogued, with their topical range noted, before the vast extent of the unexplored territory to be examined, began to exhibit some of its formidable proportions. It was plainly demonstrated, that the projected task must be either abandoned or |