IN DARKEST AFRICA

XV + 529 pp. [Volume I]

XV + 472 pp. + 2 pp publishers catalogue. [Volume II]

Illustrated end-papers. Russet cloth with gilt & black embossed illustrations on both the spines as well as the front boards. Profusely illustrated by various artists and engravers. Includes maps. Complete. The first map in volume I has an 8 centimetre tear in the margin. Light random foxing in both volumes. Some wear and bumping commensurate with age to extremities of each volume. Gentle creasing/waviness to spinal cloth. Otherwise a good set.

A classic in the genre of African travel and indeed within Victorian travel literature. Sir Henry Morton Stanley was considered one of the most effective explorers of his day and is possibly most famous for his phrase, "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?"(along with his historic expedition to find the erstwhile famous explorer). He was born John Rowlands (28 January 1841 - 10 May 1904) in Wales. In 1886, he led the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition to "rescue" Emin Pasha, the governor of Equatoria in the southern Sudan. This was his third journey into Africa. Whilst on the way to meet Emin, which he finally did in 1888, he discovered the Ruwenzori mountain range and Lake Edward. He emerged from the interior with Emin and his surviving followers at the end of 1890. Where as other expeditions by Stanley were deemed to be successes, this expedition tarnished Stanley's reputation. Apart from the reluctance of Emin Pasha to be rescued, the expedition was mired by barbarism, brutality and violence.