BAINES ON THE ZAMBEZI 1858 TO 1859 (De Luxe Edition)

251 pages, colour frontispiece, 4 maps, 72 colour and other plates and illustrations. Mostly after Baines, many small sketches in the text and margins by Baines, half leather with marbled boards, housed in a matching slipcase with leather lips. The spine is slightly faded and the slipcase is worn around the edges, otherwise a very good copy.

125 copies bound in half leather numbered 1 to 125. This is number 90.

Brenthurst First Series no 8

Preface: This episode in the life of Thomas Baines during which he spent approximately sixteen months from March 1858 to July 1859 as official artist and storekeeper to David Livingstone's Zambesi expedition is still of relevance today. Baines's account not only reviews the exploratory feats of the party and its individuals during the journey from the delta of the Zambezi River to the Cahora Bassa Rapids, but it also represents a microcosm of human interaction and its resultant ramifications for the small group and each member - especially for Baines himself. The famous missionary-explorer, Dr Livingstone, dismissed the versatile land and sea traveller, craftsman and significant nineteenth century Africana artist on allegations of theft, but refused him a trial in a legal court. Thus Baines spent virtually the rest of his life trying to clear his name. Unlike Livingstone, the artist did not have the public appeal, financial resources and influential connections in Victorian Britain to vindicate himself, and the stigma remained. Through his prolific painting and complementary writing Baines has immortalised an epoch of African history.