Curtis books sell for $1 million

Curtis’s North American Indian Lot Is First To Break $1 Million At SwannSwann Galleries' auction of important Nineteenth and Twentieth Century photographs on October 15 was an historic sale. A partial set of Edward S. Curtis's "The North American Indian," sold for $1,048,000, making it the first million-dollar item sold at Swann. That, combined with a stellar selection of vintage and modern photographs, led to Swann's top photography auction to date.

Daile Kaplan, Swann Galleries vice president and director of the photography department, said, "How marvelous that a classic of photographic literature, Edward Curtis's 'The North American Indian,' is Swann's first million-dollar lot! The continued growth in the market may be attributed to the fact that buyers from the antiquarian book, contemporary art and design fields are discovering fine art photography. The best is yet to come."