Stanley (Henry M.) In Darkest Africa
£495
or the quest rescue and retreat of Emin Governor of Equatoria
London, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1890.
First edition, trade issue. 8vo. 2 vols. Original pictorial cloth blocked in black & gilt.
An attractive first edition account of Stanley’s last major African venture, an attempt to extract Emin Pasha, a European doctor serving as governor of a remote Sudanese province that had been cut off by a religious uprising. Between 1887 and 1889 his expedition forced a path through the Congo basin and dense, unmapped rainforest, reached the Great Lakes, and eventually made for the Indian Ocean with Emin in tow. The journey was catastrophic in human cost but geographically significant, bringing the first detailed reports of Lake Edward and the glaciated Ruwenzori mountains, long rumoured in classical sources.
In stock
Some foxing, mainly limited to extremities of text-block; minor softening to heads of spines, but overall a fantastic set.
Plates, woodcuts and maps (including 2 folding).
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