Presented in this lot is a First Edition of "Indian Old-Man Stories" by Frank B. Linderman, 1920, illustrated by Charles M. Russell, Charles Scribner's Sons publishers. The Indians of the northwestern plains always laughed at the tales about "Old-man", heard around the lodge fire in the wintertime after sunset. For a powerful character, he was comically flawed. "Old-man" made the world but sometimes forgot the names of things. Victim and victimizer, he seemed closer to common experience than the awesome god Manitou. Frank B. Linderman thought "Old-man" was, under different names, a god for many Indian communities. These stories collected from Chippewa and Cree elders are full of wonder at the way things are. Why children lose their teeth, why eyesight fails with age, why dogs howl at night, why some animals wear camouflage. These and other mysteries, large and small, are made vividly sensible. Frank Bird Linderman (1869-1938) was a Montana writer, politician, Native American ally and ethnographer. He went West as a young man and became enamored of life on the Montana frontier. While working as a trapper for several years, he lived with the Salish and Blackfeet tribes, learning their cultures. He advocated on behalf of the landless Chippewa and Cree in Montana, who struggled to survive. He supported Native Americans as the real Americans, while believing there was a place for Anglo-Americans in the West. Believing that Native peoples should be protected. He became an advocate with the government for Chief Rocky Boy and used his network of prominent whites, including other politicians and painter Charles M. Russell, to lobby Congress to set up a reservation for the Chippewa band. Throughout his life, Linderman collected Native American stories. His first book, Indian Why Stories: Sparks from War Eagle's Lodge-fire, was published in 1915 by Charles Scribner's Sons. After moving with his family to a log home on Montana's Flathead Lake in 1917, Linderman focused his attention on writing. He had spent his life gathering stories, and he felt a duty to write them down. He wrote as much in a letter to a friend, "I feel it a duty to, in some way, preserve the old West, especially Montana, in printer's ink, and if I can only accomplish a small part of that, I shall die contented." He wrote six books of Native American legends, an autobiography, a collection of frontier stories, six novels, three animal stories, and a collection of reminiscences about his friend and artist Charles Marion Russell. The red cloth bound gold gilt illustrated hardcover is in good overall condition, scuffing, fading and age tanning exhibited on covers. Intact fore edge deckled pages display age tanning, loose binding. Measures 6"W x 8.125"L x 1"D, weight is 1lb, 2oz.