In Darkest Africa, Or the Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1890. With two steel engravings, and one hundred and fifty illustrations and maps. First American edition, first printing. Publisher's full brown pebbled morocco blind ruled with gilt titles, inner dentelles and marbled end papers, aeg, two volumes in custom burnt orange cloth slipcase. Octavos. [iv], xiv, [ii], 547, [5]; [iv], xvi, 540, [4]. 9" x 6.5". Bound in front of volume two is additional marbled end paper and strip of binder's cloth. Rear pockets in both volumes with three total fold-out maps. Both volumes mild rubbing edges and small scratches gilt edges; stamped name ffep verso, title page, and opposite rear end paper; sparse smudges throughout else internally clean. Vol. 1 small tear top edge pg. 469-172 and minor loss to spine head; vol. 2 small tear top edge pg. 497. Overall, near fine, tight copies with bright gilt and beautiful binding. Rear maps fine to near fine with mild wear to creases with tape reinforcements. Housed in fine custom slipcase. Item #232627
PASHA, I PRESUME
Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) was a Welsh-American explorer known for his rescue and colonial explorations into Central Africa. Journeying into the "Darkest Africa," Stanley previously sought out the source of the Nile, stumbled upon missionary David Livingstone, and was in the employ of Belgian Leopold II to create the "Congo Free State" when the British government tapped him to save Emin Pasha, the English-appointed, Egyptian governor of Equatoria (now South Sudan) from Mahdist forces. Stanley led the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition from 1887-1889, an adventure fraught with miscommunication, illness, and desertions.
He documented his account shortly after the end of the expedition, returning to acclaim in Europe and selling over 150,000 copies of In Darkest Africa in a month. However, as the brutality, cost, and English and Belgian imperial motives leaked that autumn, Stanley faced public backlash. The relief expedition became the last of its kind, leaving behind one of the most important works on African exploration.
This copy is bound in scarce publisher's full brown pebbled morocco with beautifully marbled end papers, includes three fold-out maps in rears, and is housed in a custom orange cloth slipcase.
[Hosken 189, for the first British edition].
Price: $1,750.00