LAKE NGAMI

New US edition: xxiii, 433 pages, engraved frontispiece, 55 full page plates and other illustrations in the text, half green morocco with marbled paper sides, a very good copy.

The first American edition of Lake Ngami was published in New York by Harper & Brothers in 1856. This Dix, Edwards & Co. edition is a later issue published in 1857.

Mendelssohn (Sydney) South African Bibliography, volume 1, pages 41. 'The narratives describe two expeditions, one in which the author was accompanied by Mr Francis Galton which extended to Nangoro's Werft in the Ovampo country and the other when he travelled by himself to Lake Ngami. The courage and endurance of the explorers were remarkable, and their sufferings from the dearth of water were at times very terrible. Few, if any books give so full and complete an account of Namaqualand, Damaraland, and the Ovampo country and the description of the fauna of these countries is absolutely unequalled. Galton sailed for England in early 1852 and Andersson commenced his journey to Lake Ngami in the early part of 1853, reaching the lake about the middle of the same year. He gives descriptive accounts of the ostrich, giraffe, rhinoceros and other animals and a full description of the native races.'

Dix, Edwards & Co. was short-lived but prestigious publishing company, known for high-quality literary and travel works before it fell victim to the ‘Panic of 1857’ an early financial crisis than engulfed the American and world economy.