White Bull’s Historic Lakota Storybook Sold for $270,600

White Bull's ledger and storybook
A unique and historically important book documenting Lakota Sioux tribal history has topped Morphy’s' Western and Native American art, relics and memorabilia auction.
Created and maintained by Chief Sitting Bull’s nephew White Bull (1849-1947), the 162-page historical ledger and storybook was specifically intended to document battles in the West. Consisting of 120 narrative pages, 33 illustrated color pages, and 28 additional pages that were either blank or faced drawings, the ledger is both visual and informative.
“What made it especially unique was that it was a personal and original biographical account of battles, coups, combats and even included winter population counts of the Sioux,” said Dan Morphy, president of Morphy Auctions. “White Bull claimed to have killed General Custer, which may or may not have been true, but the book does record what appears to be his fight with Custer, in addition to many other battles in which he was personally involved.”
Mike Cowdrey, a respected author of books on Native American topics, observed that, in terms of Lakota historiography, White Bull’s ledger/storybook is “comparable in importance to the diaries of Thomas Jefferson, a unique and irreplaceable resource.” The final selling price of $270,600 was more than twice its high estimate of $125,000.