In Darkest Africa (1890)

IN TWO VOLUMES, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, London, gilt lettering and figures on maroon boards, with one hundred and fifty woodcut illustrations and maps, 155 x 23mm, condition: very good.

Volume One; 530 pages, I-XX chapters, appendix, index, 15 full-page illustrations, numerous other illustrations, large fold-out map (with tear).

Volume Two;  474 pages , XXI-XXXV, appendicies, 38 full-page illustrations, other illustrations including tracings from ancient books in the Khedive's library, Cairo, also fold-out maps and profile sketch.

In Darkest Africa is an account of The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition (1886-1889), the last major private expedition into  Africa during the nineteenth century. On the surface, the expedition was for the relief of Emin Pasha,  governor of Equatoria, then a province of Egypt (now in South Sudan), along the upper reaches of the White Nile. The expedition took in the northern parts of present day Uganda, including Albert N'yanza (Lake Albert).

And as it turned out, the objective of the expedition, Emin Pasha, (originally Oscar Schnitzer) did not want to be rescued!

The expedition was led by Stanley and took the path of the Congo River and the Ituri Forest, an extraordinarily difficult route that resulted in the loss of two-thirds of the expedition. Stanley met Emin in April 1888, and after a year spent in argument and indecision, Emin was eventually convinced to leave. Stanley and Emin arrived in Bagamoyo in 1890, a trading post on the East African coast. Emin fell out of a second-story window he mistook for a balcony at a banquet held in his honour.

This journey was the last large African expedition of its kind, that is privately funded and not for political or scientific objectives. It was remarkable not only for having crossed "darkest Africa", and  for the deaths of  many of the  participants and the disease introduced into the region in its wake.