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Native American Literature, Anthologies

NOTE: This page is from our catalog archives. The listings are from an older catalog and are on our website for reference purposes only. If you see something you're interested in, please check our inventory via the search box at upper right or our search page.
1. American Indian Life. NY: B.W. Huebsch (1922). Edited by Elsie Clews Parsons. An important anthology of pieces about Indian life and cultures, addressed to a lay audience but with contributions by many of the most prominent anthropologists and ethnologists of their time: Franz Boas, Edward Sapir, Paul Radin, Alfred Tozzer, Sylvanus Morley and many others whose work largely defined the parameters of academic inquiry for most of the last century. Thick quarto, with numerous color illustrations by C. Grant LaFarge. Front hinge cracking, otherwise very good without dust jacket.

2. Illuminations 2. (San Francisco): (Illuminations Press) (1966). A special edition of this San Francisco literary publication, "dedicated to the living spirit Chief Joseph, Black Elk, to the American Indian heritage, to all shamen everywhere." A portfolio of more than a dozen inserts, many with inserts of their own. Includes work by Gene Fowler, Ed Bullins, Norman Moser, Jim Yensan, Richard Ferber, Douglas Blazek and many others. 10" x 14". A major effort to link the contemporary poetry, especially that of the emerging Bay Area counterculture, to American Indian traditions, and including artwork from a number of Indian cultures and Indian artists. Inserts fine, laid into a near fine, edgeworn folder with the remains of a library label at lower spine. An uncommon, important collection.

3. Look to the Mountain Top. San Jose: Gousha (1972). The hardcover issue of this overview of Indian history and culture, with contributions by D'Arcy McNickle, Vine Deloria and others. Heavily illustrated with photographs and artwork, much of it of Indian origin. Lower corners bumped; near fine in a near fine dust jacket.

4. The Man To Send Rain Clouds. NY: Viking (1974). Edited by Kenneth Rosen. The first anthology of fiction by contemporary Native American writers to be published by a mainstream New York publisher, and to bring the work of a number of young Indian writers to a wide general readership. Includes seven stories by Leslie Silko, including the title story; five by Simon Ortiz; and with contributions by Anna Lee Walters, the painter R.C. Gorman, and others. This book went out of print shortly after publication and remained that way until some years later when it was reissued in paperback; now it is considered one of the standard introductory books to the field of Native American literature or multicultural studies. Fine in a very near fine, price-clipped dust jacket. $200

5. -. Another copy. Lengthily inscribed by contributor Opal Lee Popkes. Recipient's name on front flyleaf; else fine in a fine dust jacket.

6. Come To Power. Trumansburg: Crossing Press (1974). Edited by Dick Lourie. Introduction by Joseph Bruchac. The simultaneous issue in wrappers of this collection featuring eleven contemporary Native American poets, including Leslie Silko, Duane Niatum, Norman Russell, Ray Young Bear, Joseph Bruchac, and others. An early small press effort at showing some of the best writing being produced by young American Indian writers who were, at the time, little-known. A number of these authors are highly regarded as literary figures today without being relegated solely to the "genre" of Native American literature. Spine-faded; near fine in wrappers.

7. Carriers of the Dream Wheel. NY: Harper & Row (1975). A seminal anthology of Native American poetry, which probably got wider distribution at the time than did the Viking/Seaver production Voices of the Rainbow. The fifth book in the Harper Native American Publishing Program. Edited by Duane Niatum, with an introduction by N. Scott Momaday, and collections of poems by Momaday, Joseph Bruchac, Jim Barnes, Lance Henson, Duane Niatum, Wendy Rose, Simon Ortiz, Leslie Silko, James Welch, and others. Signed by Welch. With illustrations by Hopi artist and poet Wendy Rose. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.

8. -. Another copy. Inscribed and/or signed by four of the contributors, Duane Niatum, Joseph Bruchac, N. Scott Momaday, and Leslie Silko. Lower corners lightly bumped; slight foxing on the first illustration. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.

9. Between the High Mountains and the Rainbows. (Big Horn County): (Crow Agency Public School) (1976). Poetry by elementary school children from the Crow Indian reservation, with poems in English and in Crow, which had only recently gained a written form. Illustrated with photographs of the children. Fine in stapled wrappers. Uncommon.

10. Having Traveled Here Before. Tulsa: Tulsa Public Schools, 1976. "Poetry, prose, and just plain talk" by Indian students. Inscribed by the editor, Jon West, to Joseph Bruchac in 1980. Quarto, illustrated with photographs of the students. Fine in stapled wrappers. Uncommon.

11. Sta-Ai-Tsi-Nix-Sin. Ghost Stories. Browning: Blackfeet Heritage Program/ (Browning Public Schools) (1979). A dozen stories from an earlier generation that had survived into the present era, with illustrations by Vernon No Runner. This is the issue in textured light blue stapled wrappers; edge-sunned; near fine.

12. -. Same title, possibly a later issue in royal blue stapled wrappers. Near fine.

13. -. Another copy of the (later?) royal blue issue. Creased/rolled; very good in stapled wrappers.

14. The Remembered Earth. Albuquerque: Red Earth Press (1979). An anthology of contemporary Native American literature. With work by Leslie Silko, Maurice Kenny, Peter Blue Cloud, Joseph Bruchac, Adrian Louis, Joy Harjo, Jim Barnes, Linda Hogan, Robert Conley, Carroll Arnett, N. Scott Momaday, Paul Gunn Allen, Simon Ortiz, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Wendy Rose, Duane Niatum, Mary TallMountain, and many, many others -- a virtual Who's Who of American Indian literature in the first generation after Momaday's groundbreaking, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, House Made of Dawn. Spine creased, some sunning to covers; very good in wrappers. Uncommon in the original edition.

15. -. Same title, a later edition. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1981. This is the hardcover issue; there was a simultaneous issue in wrappers. Foxing to top edge; else fine in a very good, edge-worn dust jacket with an abrasion on the rear panel, affecting a blurb by Vine Deloria, Jr. Uncommon in hardcover.

16. From the Center: A Folio. NY: Strawberry Press, 1981. A collection of small broadsides (5 1/2" x 8") by various Native American artists and writers. Printed on different colored papers, and laid into a 6" x 9" folio. Contributors include Paula Gunn Allen, Joy Harjo, Linda Hogan, Wendy Rose, Joseph Bruchac, Duane Niatum, Maurice Kenny, Peter Blue Cloud, Simon Ortiz, Norman Russell, Mary TallMountain, Rokwaho and others. Folder slightly spine-sunned and corner-creased; otherwise fine. As these are broadsides, they constitute, in effect, a collection of scarce "A" items by these authors.

17. Songs From This Earth on Turtle's Back. (NY): Greenfield Review Press (1983). Edited by Joseph Bruchac. An anthology of Native American poetry, with contributions by 52 poets, including virtually all of the well-known writers at the time -- Silko, Momaday, Welch, Ortiz, Young Bear, Hogan, Harjo, and others -- and a host of lesser known and less widely anthologized writers. A more comprehensive collection than most, as might be expected in a volume published by Abenaki poet and editor Joseph Bruchac's Greenfield Review Press. Spot to foredge, fading to spine; very good in wrappers.

18. -. Another copy. Spine-faded; near fine in wrappers.

19. Earth Power Coming. (Tsaile): Navajo Community College Press (1983). Edited by and signed by Simon Ortiz. A collection of short fiction by Native American writers, including Silko, Louise Erdrich (preceding her first book of poetry or fiction), Hogan, Bruchac, Cook-Lynn, Paula Gunn Allen, Mary TallMountain, Robert Conley, and many others. This is the scarce hardcover issue: small spot to lower edge; else fine in a mildly rubbed dust jacket.

Signed/Inscribed by Seven Contributors

20. Wounds Beneath the Flesh. Marvin: Blue Cloud Quarterly Press, 1983. A short anthology of selected works by fifteen Native American poets, edited and introduced by Maurice Kenny. This copy is inscribed by Kenny to Jamake Highwater and further signed or inscribed to another recipient by contributors Paula Gunn Allen, Joseph Bruchac, Joy Harjo, Linda Hogan, Duane Niatum and Leslie Marmon Silko. Sunning to spine; one slight corner crease; near fine in stapled wrappers. A remarkable copy of a small but important collection.

21. Visions and Voices of the Original People. (St. Paul): (Indian Country Press) (1983). Edited by Sherry Blakey Banai, with work by Tom LaBlanc, Charles Robertson, Sr., Sandy King, Edward Benton Banai, and others, including a section by young people, aged 7 to 16. The book was a project of the Red School House in St. Paul, MN, which was started as an AIM Survival School, started in Minneapolis by Edward Benton Banai, a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles band of the Chippewa, in 1969. Warmly inscribed by Tom LaBlanc at his contribution. Fine in stapled wrappers. Uncommon.

22. Rolling Thunder. Voices from a People. Santa Fe: Institute of American Indian Arts, 1984. Poetry and prose by students at the IAIA, illustrated with photographs by Don Whitesinger. Oblong quarto; fine in wrappers.

23. The New Native American Novel. Works in Progress. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press (1986). The hardcover issue of this title, which prints portions of novels in progress at the time by Louise Erdrich, Michael Dorris, Gerald Vizenor, N. Scott Momaday, Linda Hogan, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Paula Gunn Allen, Louis Owens and others. Signed by Erdrich, Allen, Dorris and Hogan. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

24. Survival This Way. Tucson: Sun Tracks/University of Arizona Press (1987). Joseph Bruchac interviews 21 Native American poets, including Erdrich, Momaday, Vizenor, Welch, Ortiz, Hogan, Harjo, Cook-Lynn, Niatum, Rose, Littlebird, Paula Gunn Allen, Lance Henson, Peter Blue Cloud, Carter Revard, Roberta Hill Whiteman, Ray Young Bear and others. A key volume, collecting many of the foremost Native American poets and their thoughts and comments on writing that have not appeared elsewhere in print. Signed by Paula Gunn Allen and James Welch. This is a fine copy of the issue in wrappers.

25. -. Same title. Galley sheets, shot two text pages to one horizontal 14" x 8 1/2" page. The title page, contents page, Bruchac's introduction and a couple of the interviews -- Simon Ortiz's and James Welch's -- are annotated in pencil. Bradbound in cardstock covers with the binding breaking and a slit to the front cover; good. Very uncommon. We've never seen another set of these galleys.

26. Harper's Anthology of 20th Century Native American Poetry. San Francisco: Harper & Row (1988). A massive and ambitious anthology, with an introduction by Duane Niatum, who edited Harper & Row's Carriers of the Dream Wheel over a decade earlier. Signed by Louise Erdrich, Simon Ortiz, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn and James Welch at their contributions. Other contributors include Paula Gunn Allen, Jim Barnes, Ray A. Young Bear, Lance Henson, Joy Harjo, Linda Hogan, N. Scott Momaday, Maurice Kenny, Mary TallMountain, and many others. This is the issue in wrappers. Cover slightly splayed; else fine.

27. Winged Words. American Indian Writers Speak. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press (1990). A collection of interviews on writing and on Native American literature by Laura Coltelli, who has written and edited a number of books on the subject. Interviewees include Paula Gunn Allen, Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris, Joy Harjo, Linda Hogan, N. Scott Momaday, Simon Ortiz, Wendy Rose, Leslie Marmon Silko, Gerald Vizenor, and James Welch. This copy is inscribed by Hogan and signed by Allen, Harjo, Erdrich and Silko. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

28. -. Another copy. Signed by Allen, Erdrich, Welch, Hogan and Rose. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

29. The Lightning Within. Lincoln: University of Nebraska (1991). An anthology reprinting work by a number of the most high-profile of the contemporary Native American writers -- Momaday, Silko, Welch, Ortiz, Erdrich, Vizenor and Dorris. Edited and with an introduction by Alan R. Velie, the author of the influential volume of criticism Four American Indian Literary Masters. This copy is signed by James Welch and Michael Dorris. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

30. Talking Leaves. (NY): Laurel (1991). The uncorrected proof copy of this anthology of contemporary Indian short stories, which was only published in softcover. Edited by Craig Lesley. Contributors include Joseph Bruchac, Louise Erdrich, Michael Dorris, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Diane Glancy, Joy Harjo, Linda Hogan, Gerald Vizenor, N. Scott Momaday, Mary TallMountain, James Welch and many others. Spine- and edge-sunned; near fine in wrappers with promotional postcard laid in.

31. -. Another copy of the proof. Near fine in wrappers with publicity letter addressed to Wallace Stegner laid in.

32. Raven Tells Stories. Greenfield Center: Greenfield Review Press (1991). An anthology of Alaskan Native writing, with both established writers and young, less well known ones, edited by Joseph Bruchac and with an introduction by James Ruppert. Includes work by Mary TallMountain and Fred Bigjim, among many others. Inscribed by contributor Lincoln Tritt. Fine in wrappers.

33. Growing Up Native American. NY: Morrow (1993). Twenty-two Native American authors, past and present, write about childhood in essays and fiction. This copy is signed by Joseph Bruchac, Michael Dorris, Louise Erdrich, Linda Hogan, Simon Ortiz and Leslie Silko. Other contributors include Black Elk, N. Scott Momaday, Lame Deer, Ella Deloria, Sara Winnemucca Hopkins and John Joseph Mathews, among many other contemporary writers. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

34. Backtalk. Women Writers Speak Out. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press (1993). Interviews with women writers, including Paula Gunn Allen and Leslie Marmon Silko. This copy is signed by Allen. Other interviewees include Maxine Hong Kingston, Jamaica Kincaid and Barbara Kingsolver, among others. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

35. Voice of the Turtle. American Indian Literature 1900-1970. NY: Ballantine (1994). A collection surveying the field of published Native American writings of the last century. Edited by Paula Gunn Allen. Authors include E. Pauline Johnson and Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa) from the early part of the century; John Oskison, and John Neihardt (Black Elk Speaks) and D'Arcy McNickle, from the middle years; and N. Scott Momaday, Simon Ortiz, and others, from the later years. Fine in a fine dust jacket.

36. Both Sides. (Santa Fe): IAIA, 1994. Collects new work -- poetry, stories, plays and photographs -- from students at the Institute of American Indian Arts. IAIA is a four-year college chartered in 1962 under President Kennedy for the empowering of Indian peoples who would not necessarily have access to higher education, to preserve cultural traditions and foster creative expression. It is the only fine arts college in the country dedicated solely to the artistic and cultural traditions of American Indian tribes. Its graduates over the years represent over 90% of the federally recognized tribes in the U.S. Fine in wrappers.

37. Gathering Our Own. (Santa Fe): (Institute of American Indian Arts) (1996). A collection of IAIA student playwrights. Fine in wrappers. End Anthologies.

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