Cherokee alphabet

Lot 137
17.01.2024 11:00UTC -05:00
Classic
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$ 16 380
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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ID 1119182
Lot 137 | Cherokee alphabet
Estimate value
$ 5 000 – 8 000
Cherokee alphabet

Sequoyah, c.1843

[SEQUOYAH (c.1770-1843).] Cherokee Alphabet. Characters as arranged by the inventor.... [Park Hill, Oklahoma? 1843?]



Broadside Cherokee alphabet. Sequoyah, also known as George Guest, invented the Cherokee syllabary in 1821: one of the few times in recorded history that an individual person wholly created an original, effective writing system on behalf of his own people. Both missionaries and native Cherokee were enthusiastic about the alphabet for different reasons, and by the 1850s the literacy rate of the Cherokee Nation approached 100%. This broadside has no imprint or date but it appears to be from after the Cherokee relocation in 1838; there are New Echota printings of the same text but different typeface. Pilling, Iroquoian Languages, p. 72.



Broadside (202 x 180mm). Typographic border; on wove paper. (A little toned, old folds and some short edge splits.) Custom cloth folder.

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