EDWARD S. CURTIS. The Enchanted Mesa, 1925. 7x8.25" tissue photogravure, cornered on 9.3x12.5" Holland Van Gelder paper. Print date 1926. From Volume 16, Pueblo Indians, of The North American Indian. Printed on print recto: The Enchanted Mesa / From Copyright Photograph 1925 by E.S. Curtis

In 1897 leading anthropologist Frederick Webb Hodge, well before Hodge became Curtis's editor for the North American Indian, made the first ascent by a white person to examine the top of the mesa. Enchanted Mesa, also known as Katzimo, rises 430 feet above the lands below. Hodge describes the mesa as having been the mythical home of the Acoma ancestors with many residents, until a rocky mass collapsed destroying the only trail up, and leaving those on top to perish on the inaccessible height. On this trip he was accompanied by legendary photographer Adam Clark Vroman (Lot 5115 here) who documented the ascent and exploration of the top of the mesa.

Good. Minor wear, corner wear, mount has light water stain lower left, margins Holland Van Gelder mount show tissue transfer discoloration from original acidic page cover.