Almost Ancestors: The First Californians

San Francisco, California: The Sierra Club, 1968. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. 4to 11" - 13" tall. The Sierra Club put this catalogue of photographs together largely from long-deceased peoples and cultures of mostly Western America, mostly California. Both front and rear panels of the dust wrapper are brilliant illustrations of influential Native Americans. Augmented with fine ethnographic but mostly ethnological data including the religious ceremonies distinctive of the Yurok, their World Renewal rites. The lead author is famous for both her studies of "Ishi," the "Last Yahi Indian," and birthing of Ursula Le Guin. Wife also to the first Ph.D. student of "Papa [Franz] Boas," the Polish Jew founder of the Ph.D. program at Columbia University. Robert F. Heizer also was a noted Native Americanist (July 13, 1915 – July 18, 1979), an archaeologist who conducted extensive fieldwork and reporting in California, the Southwestern United States, and the Great Basin. Sturdy, attractive, tightly bound hardcover, a big, tall, quarto-format copy, with a clean, unmarked interior, with minimal rubbing to extremities. Bound handsomely in brown cloth, with sharp and distinct gilt lettering to front cover and spine. Bright and shiny dust jacket, illustrated, little worn beyond light chipping to spine bottom. 114 sharp and distinct black-and-white illustrations. Volume contains scholarly apparatus in the form of, e.g., notes, index, and bibliography. 168 pp. including Authors' Acknowledgments and a full index of the 50+ tribes who contributed 114 different photos.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.