Bodmer_Publication

able to rouse much enthusiasm. Only Thomas L. Kenney’s work History of the I ndian
Tribes of North America, of which the first volume was published in 1839 and which
contained hand-colored lithographs after paintings by Charles Bird King and various
other artists, was effectively based on authentic sources. McKenney’s work, with
texts by James Hall, was published around the same time as Prince Maximilian’s
account of his journeys, while all the other illustrated works on North American
I ndians were published later: Catlin in 1841 and 1844, Schoolcraft from 1851 on. 4
The Indians of America’s west coast received public attention for the first time
through Captain James Cook’s travel diary and illustrated atlas, which included
etchings after originals by John Webber (whose family was originally called Wäber
and came from Switzerland). On his third (and last) voyage, in search of the North
West Passage, Cook and his crew encountered the Nootka on Vancouver Island as
well as the inhabitants of the coast of Alaska. 5 A few pictures of Californian and
North-West Coast Indians are also shown in the works of Georg Langsdorff (1814),
Louis Choris (1820), and in the reports of various Spanish and Russian expeditions
to the Pacific. 6
Schinz’s Natural History of Mammals
The image of the world and its inhabitants that governed Europe in the early
nineteenth century is well reflected in the various editions of Natural History, the
major work of the Swiss doctor and scholar of natural history Heinrich Rudolf
Schinz (1777 – 1861), published between 1824 and 1845. After his medical training
Schinz became a lecturer at the Institute of Medicine in Zurich in 1804, before being
appointed extraordinary professor for natural history in 1833 at the newly
founded University of Zurich. Next to his university position he was also secretary,
board member and curator of the zoological collection of the Zurich Society of
Natural History. In this capacity, Schinz wrote several scientific treatises, especially
on mammals, birds, amphibians, and fish. His books were mainly written as textbooks
for university and school teaching and illustrated with lithographs. 7
Prince Maximilian of Wied (1782 – 1867) joined the Prussian army in 1802 as an
officer. After finishing his time of service in 1808 he undertook an educational
journey to Switzerland and Italy, during which he got to know Schinz in Zurich.
The two scholars struck up a lifelong friendship which, amongst others things,
finds expression in the 425 letters that Prince Maximilian wrote to Schinz between
1809 and 1860; the letters are today kept at the Central Library in Zurich. 8
In 1824 Schinz issued his first major work in the field of natural history, a
richly illustrated book on mammals. It was published by Brodtmann’s lithographic
printing office in Zurich. The book comprised two levels of order: “Two-handers,
or human beings” and “Four-handers, Quadrumana.” According to the German
scholar Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752 – 1840) from Göttingen, Schinz grouped
the human species into five “tribes” or races. Representatives of the five different
races were portrayed on seventeen large-sized plates; the pictures were based on
illustrations taken from well-known works of explorers of that age.
In the first edition (1824) Schinz appears to have been still rather uncertain as
to how to classify the American race. This is borne out by the fact that he places the
inhabitants of the North-West Coast together with the Kamchatkans in the Caucasian
race. The plate displaying North-West Coast Indians shows a “man from
Nootka Sound” (Vancouver Island) and a “man from Prince William Sound”
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