C. N. COTTON and HIS NAVAJO BLANKETS [SOLD]

C. N. COTTON and HIS NAVAJO BLANKETS

By Lester L. Williams, MD

 Publisher: Avanyu Publishing, Inc., Albuquerque

Soft cover, first edition, 1989, 102 pages, 18 photographic illustrations and color plates of Navajo rugs. 

A biography of C. N. Cotton, Gallup, New Mexico Indian Trader and Re-printings of three mail order catalogs of Navajo Indian blankets and rugs originally printed between 1896 and 1919.

Condition: this is a new copy but there was a one-inch tear in the back cover which has been repaired with Scotch tape.  No other damage.  The price has been adjusted accordingly.

(Excerpt from) Publisher's PREFACE [J. Brent Ricks and Alexander E. Anthony, Jr.]

“Once again Avanyu Publishing, Inc. takes great satisfaction in bringing back into print early mail order catalogs, which revealed to the general American population the uses of and beauty in the weavings, blankets and rugs of the Navajo Indians of the Southwest.  Our J. B. Moore, United States Licensed Indian Trader, which featured catalogs from 1911 and earlier, has been very well received since its publication date.

“Our research on J. B. Moore by necessity brought us into contact with C. N. Cotton.  Cotton was a well-known trader to us and we were aware of his contemporaneous publication, with Moore, of Sears-Roebuck-inspired mail order catalogs.  But finding them was more than difficult!  Our search early led us to Dr. Lester Williams of Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Dr. Williams had two original copies of catalogs of which we only had photocopies.  While this was satisfying, we were overjoyed when he began speaking of his great uncle, C. N. Cotton!

 “Dr. Williams had studied Cotton, his life, his business, his family, his politics, for years.  He had been seeking a forum for the biography he had drafted of his successful relative.  This book is that forum.  We hope you enjoy the story of Cotton’s life and the insights which his catalogs provide into life, trade, and the art and craft of the Navajo Indians on the frontier at the end of the 19^th century and the turn of the 20^th century.”