SENTINEL SAN ILDEFONSO Copper Plate & Envelope

1. EDWARD S. CURTIS. Plate 580 The Sentinel - San Ildefonso, 1925. 15.75x10.75" image on 18x13" copper plate. Plate date 1926. From Portfolio 17 Pueblo Indians, of The North American Indian. Engraved on plate recto: The Sentinel - San Ildefonso / From Copyright Photograph 1925 by E.S. Curtis/Photogravure Suffolk Eng Co Cambridge Mass.

2. EDWARD S. CURTIS. Plate 580 The Sentinel - San Ildefonso, 1925. 11.5x15.5" photogravure on 13x17" Holland Van Gelder paper paper remnants of plate envelope. Print date 1926. From Portfolio 17, Pueblo Indians, of The North American Indian. Inscribed in ink on print recto: North American Indians / Vol XVII / Plate 580 / The Sentinel - San Ildefonso / From Copyright Photograph 1926 by E.S. Curtis / Photogravure Suffolk Eng. Co. Cambridge Mass.

Curtis wrote about this: "In prehistoric times the Tewa were so beset by roving enemies that not a few of them, for purposes of defense, became cliff-dwellers. (See Volume XVII, illustrations facing pages 30,32.) With a watchman posted in a niche of the cliff or on a commanding elevation, there was little chance of an enemy surprising laborers in the cornfields." Curtis builds here on his ethno-historical theme of the Indian before the White Man came.
Condition Report: 1. Very Good. Minor scratches, tarnish, dents, abrasions, small dark spots, and ink residue throughout plate surface.
2. Fair. Print surface is dirty, creased, spotted with printer's ink, and has tears throughout. The envelope is torn and tattered.