Antiquarian Auctions

Auction #121 begins on 27 Feb 2025

Park (Mungo)

TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR DISTRICTS OF AFRICA

Performed under the direction and patronage of the African Association, in the years 1795, 1796 and 1797, with an appendix containing geographical illustrations of Africa by Major Rennell

Published: Printed by W.Bulmer and Co. for the author, London, 1799

Edition: Second Edition

Reserve: $250

Approximately:

Estimate: $350/450

Bidding opens: 27 Feb 16:30 GMT

Bidding closes: 6 Mar 16:30 GMT

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Second Edition: 372 + xcii, list of subscribers, frontispiece portrait, 2 folding maps, folding chart, 2 engraved botanical plates and 3 engraved folding plates from sketches by the author, 2 engraved pages of music - 'A Negro Song,' from Mr Park's Travels, recent half brown morocco titled and decorated gilt on the spine, brown cloth sides, light water stain on top and fore-edge which does not affect the contents which are clean and free of foxing

'Printing and the Mind of Man' p. 253: 'Park's Travels had an immediate success and was translated into most European languages. It has become a classic of travel literature, and its scientific observations on the botany and meteorology of the region, and on the social and domestic life of the Negroes, have remained of lasting value. Park’s career was short, but he made the first great practical advance in the opening-up of Central Africa. Park did not solve the problem of the Niger: he believed it to be a tributary of the Nile or to be really identical with the Congo; but he set the further exploration of the region in the right direction. Clapperton, Oudney, Lander, Barth and others followed in Park’s footsteps and found the source of the river in Sierra Leone in 1822 and its mouth in the Gulf of Guinea in 1830.' One of only two books on Africa included in the 'Printing and the Mind of Man', the other being 'Livingstone's Missionary Travels and Researches'.

  • Overall Condition: Very good
  • Size: 4to (278 x 225 mm)


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