This authoritative, encyclopedically arranged survey provides the specific information needed to wisely form and develop collections of the work created by the complex and sophisticated civilizations that flowered on the American continents long before the European invasions. It conveniently presents data indispensable for students, curators, historians, museum administrators, dealers, appraisers, anthropologists, archaeologists, and ethnologists. The introduction includes histories of collecting Pre-Columbian and American Indian art and cogent discussion of the considerations most important to collectors - sources of objects; the various kinds of collections; identification; fakes and forgeries; condition, restorations, and repairs; mounting; protection; buying from dealers and auctions; and a survey of the market. The author notes that interest has grown in these fields, now almost the only ones in which works that are equal in quality to any ever created are still within the means of large numbers of collectors. For each of the book's two sections - Pre-Columbian Art and American Indian Art - the author gives a brief history of the subject and discusses the types of works available. The texts are followed by illustrations in black-and-white and color, systematically presenting excellent examples of the various categories of work. These pictures and their informative captions enable collectors to identify the characteristics of each type and judge quality by comparison. Maps show the locations of the major cultures and peoples of the Americas, and charts clarify their place in the span of nearly four thousand years covered. The preface confronts controversial questions about collecting: art vs. science, national claims to ancient works, and the problems concerning religious artifacts. An appendix contains valuable lists o f museums, dealers, and auction galleries around the world with Pre-Columbian and American Indian art materials, as well as book sources, a bibliography, and an index. Guide to the Arts of the Americas includes the native arts of all the Americas - North, Central and South - in one book as they should be, since the cultures of the indigenous peoples of "The New World," from the Arctic to the Straits of Magellan, are now known to be related. - Dust jacket.