Profiles of Canadian Native Indian Art, Bo'jou Neejee!

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Bo’jou. Neejee!”, Profiles of Canadian Native Art, 1976, softcover, published by the National Museum of Man, 204 pages.

Bo’jou  --- Bonjour (French)      

Neejee --- Friend (Ojibwa)

This book was prepared in 1976 in association with a traveling exhibit of the National Museum of Man.

The following was taken from a section in the book -----

Profiles of Canadian Indian Art, by Ted J. Brasser.

With great pride the National Museum of Man recently announced its success in returning to Canada one of the most outstanding collections of Canadian Indian objects known to have been in private hands. Named after its former owner, Mr. Arthur Speyer, the collection consists of 259 objects made during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Pre-1850 Indian artifacts are extremely rare in ethnographic museums, where they are considered the irreplaceable treasures of the collections. Starting in the 1890s, the first Canadian Indian material arrived at the Geological Survey of Canada, for even then there was no national museum! The greater part of all North American Indian collections originated from twentieth-century native communities. As such, they document recent cultural change, but are certainly not representative of truly traditional cultures.

In contrast, many of the artifacts in the Speyer Collection were acquired during the eighteenth century, and very few were made after 1850. Their importance is obvious; traditional arts and crafts, enriched by the merchandise of the fur trade, were still vigorously alive at that time. Thus, the Speyer Collection has substan­tially extended the documented history of native Canadians. In combination with acquisitions of more recent origin, it enables us to study and illustrate creative developments and processes of cultural change over long periods of time. In order to show the importance of the Speyer Collection in this regard, several more-recently-made artifacts have been included in the exhibition.

It was the predominantly Canadian emphasis in the Speyer Collection that stimulated the National Museum of Man to acquire it. Most of the Canadian Indian tribes east of the Rocky Mountains are represented, plus a number of culturally related groups living across the political boundary drawn by the white man. The regions best represented are the Northern Plains, the eastern half of the Northern Forest, the Great Lakes, and the St. Lawrence drainage system, occupied by the Iroquois and Huron tribes. Selection being a practical requirement, the exhibition will be restricted to these four regions.

Identification of the culture areas represented was made possible to a large extent by the surprising amount of documentation that Mr. Speyer managed to retrieve. This aspect in itself is one of the great merits of the collection. It is well known that most of the early artifacts that survived the ravages of war, fire, insects, exchange and time lost all written clues to their origin and history in the process. This may not reduce their attraction for the curio dealer, but it certainly does detract from their value as documents of a particular culture at a specific time. Discriminating in attitude, the former owner of the collection by preference selected those pieces which still possessed at least fragments of documentation; thus, it was possible to provide documentation for most of the artifacts in this exhibition.

The contents include -----

Profiles of Canadian Indian Art, by Ted J. Brasser

Sacred Was This Land            

            - The Outside of Things

            - The Dream Pictured

            - Improvisations on Some Ancient Melodies

The Lost Tribes Found Again

            - When Whites Were Welcome

            - Innovative Indians

            - Indian Summer

Catalogue of Artifacts --- The photograph of each artifact in the catalogue  is numbered,  and the section immediately before this catalogue  has information about  the many artifacts, and is cross-referenced using the same number as that associated with the photo of the artifact.  Photographs are  for the most part black and white… with only 10 photographs in color. 

Paintings, Drawings and Prints Depicting the Period

This book is in a very good condition with edge wear primarily at the corners, with scuffing on the front cover, and with no writing or other marks in the book.

Multiple purchases of books will be combined to reduce the cost of shipping.  The total for shipping and handling is presented at the end of this listing.

Visit  my other items on eBay at this time.  There may be something of interest to you!

The book has  been described as accurately as possible and is purchased as described. Please e-mail if you have any questions about the book for sale or about any of the information relating to shipping and currency exchanges.

Payment will include the final sale price plus the actual cost of shipping and a handling fee.  The handling fee will be a maximum of  $1.50 US.

After completion of the sale the seller will notify the buyer of the total payment required.

Payments for items should be made within 14 days of the day the invoice is forwarded to the buyer.

Canada Post does provide different services dependent on the weight and size of a package.   To the best of seller's ability, the item will be packaged to fall into the lowest cost category, if at all possible. All items are insured up to $100 Canadian.  Insurance beyond that provided by Canada Post is optional. 

The sum of shipping plus handling for BOOKS will be presented in the listing and will never be more than that indicated in the listing.  This number is a maximum, and has at times been less than indicated. 

Buyer should wait for an invoice before paying for the item. 

Shipping and Handling 

Books are shipped worldwide via surface mail

The services  using Canada Post are based on destination

Within Canada --- The  service is Canada Post Expedited Parcel

To the United States --- The  service is Canada Post Tracked  Packet - USA

To all other destinations worldwide --- The service is Canada Post International  Parcel - Surface

Canadian buyers ---The rate indicated for Canada may be lower for delivery within Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Northwestern Ontario.

 Canadian residents --- The applicable rates for PST and GST/HST are included in all prices.