Nanabush by Daphne Odjig

Card covers, saddle stitched with staples, 16 pages, 6.5x8.75 in, [16.5x22 cm], B&W and colour illustrations. All volumes present as first printings, uniformly bearing the publisher’s number line indicative of the initial impression.

All covers lightly dust-stained, creased and rubbed. Age-tanning through the printed pages and covers. Rear cover of Nanabush Loses His Eyeballs is foxed. Front cover of Nanabush and the Spririt of Thunder marked with ink. Pinhead sized stain and foxing to the front cover of Nanabush And Mandomin.

A ten-volume series of illustrated retellings of traditional Anishinaabe Nanabush stories, originally adopted in 1971 by the Manitoba Department of Education for classroom use. The tales, drawn from the oral traditions of the artist’s own upbringing, were particular favourites of Daphne Odjig (1919–2016), whose illustrations and narrative voice bring these trickster legends to life. Odjig, was a pioneering figure in contemporary Indigenous art in Canada.

The series includes: Nanabush and the Dancing Duck; Nanabush Punishes the Raccoon; Nanabush and the Wild Geese; Nanabush and the Spirit of Winter; Nanabush and the Mandomin; Nanabush and the Spirit of Thunder; Nanabush and the Rabbit; Nanabush and the Wild Rosebushes; Nanabush Loses His Eyeballs; and Nanabush and the Chipmunk.