First Edition. 535 pages (pages [390] - [457] or sections *1 - *5 are additional to the pagination making a total of 603 pages - all copies were issued thus, half title page, 3 colour folding maps, chromolithographic frontispiece 'Regiment of Flamingoes - Swakop River,' 7 engraved plates, 27 wood-engraved illustrations in the text, recent quarter red leather and red cloth sides, titled gilt on the spine on a red title label, the cloth on both front and back boards is insect scarred, leaves 97/8, 273/4 & 291/2 repaired, page edges trimmed, contents crisp.
In his preface, Baines’s father explains the additional pages, 'The absence of the author in Africa, while this volume was passing through the press, must be pleaded in excuse for the alteration in the paging of the latter portion of the work. The last chapter was already in type, when some MS. sheets were discovered which supplied the narrative of events for the weeks intervening between the first attack of illness and the final resolution to abandon the design of descending the Zambesi, and to return by land to Walvisch Bay. It was found necessary to insert this narrative, which now forms Chapter XV.'
Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography volume 1 page 69-70. 'The journey was started on March 20, 1861,' and the author was joined by his fellow-traveller, Mr. J. Chapman, on the 20th of July. The volume contains an interesting account of hunting and exploration in the country of the Namaquas and Damaras, and the illustrations are very spirited; there is a good description of the flora and fauna of the country, together with an account of the habits of the natives. It is stated that Livingstone, who had travelled over some of these regions, was often indistinctly understood by the natives, and that he made errors in consequence, the natives themselves averring that Scotchmen, however perfectly they may understand the language of the country, invariably speak it with an idiom that renders them more or less unintelligible.'
See also: S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science (https://www.s2a3.org.za/bio/Biograph_final.php?serial=132)
- Size: 8vo (220 x145 mm)
