(these books are located in the USA)
3 NARRATIVES OF NILE EXPLORATION by John Hanning Speke and James Augustus Grant
1) A WALK ACROSS AFRICA, or Domestic Scenes from My Nile Journey -- by James Augustus Grant
1) A WALK ACROSS AFRICA, or Domestic Scenes from My Nile Journey -- by James Augustus Grant
Facsimile reprint of the First Edition, which was originally published in Edinburgh and London by William Blackwood and Sons in 1864.
Bound in leather by hand, with sewn page-gatherings for durability. Hand-marbled endsheets.
There is also a fine-condition facsimile large folding map and a tipped-in frontispiece of Grant. Since this volume is hand-made it has imperfections, so expect such.
One of the scarcer Nile accounts. 'A monumental work of exploration, this represents Grant's experiences travelling with John Hanning Speke from Zanzibar to the source of the Nile at Lake Victoria, naming Ripon Falls, then trekking down river to the Mediterranean Sea. There are numerous descriptions of the terrain and people, with sporting incidents throughout .' (Czech). Czech p66.
2) WHAT LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCE OF THE NILE -- by John Hanning Speke
2) WHAT LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCE OF THE NILE -- by John Hanning Speke
Facsimile reprint of the First Edition, which was originally published in Edinburgh and London by William Blackwood and Sons in 1864.
Bound in leather by hand, with sewn page-gatherings for durability. Hand-marbled boards and endsheets. Since this volume is hand-made it has imperfections, so expect such.
Also tipped-in by hand are a facsimile fold-out map of the Somali coast and a facsimile fold-out map of Eastern Africa.
Speke's account of his momentous discovery of Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika, undoubtedly less common than his "Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile." Although WHAT LED was published the year after Speke's JOURNAL, this work documents the first 2 expeditions Speke made with Burton.
3) JOURNAL OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCE OF THE NILE by John Hanning Speke
A Facsimile reprint of the first edition.
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Exploration for the source of the Nile reached a fever pitch in the mid-1800s.
Exploration for the source of the Nile reached a fever pitch in the mid-1800s.
The whereabouts of the source of the Nile was a mystery that had puzzled and intrigued men since the days of the pharaohs. By the mid-19th century, it was generally recognized as the most important of all unsolved geographical questions. It was finally solved when-a young English Army officer called John Hanning Speke came upon a vast lake which he named Victoria “after our gracious queen’. He wrote in his diary: “I no longer felt any doubt that the lake at my feet gave birth to that river the source of which has been the subject of so much speculation and the object of so many explorers." Yet, curiously, his historic discovery — at the time unsupported by scientific evidence — proved to be more of a personal tragedy than a triumph. It led to his involvement in one of the bitterest feuds in the annals of exploration; and, indirectly, it may have led to his premature death.
Speke's feud was with Richard Burton, the celebrated explorer whom he had twice accompanied to Africa. Their second journey together, an attempt to discover the source of the Nile, brought them after many hardships to a great lake never before seen by Europeans, Lake Tanganyika. They suspected, wrongly, that they had reached their goal.
On the return march, it was agreed that Speke, Burton being too ill to accompany Speke, should strike out northwards to locate another “great sea” that natives had described. It was this journey that brought Speke alone, 16 days later, to Lake Victoria. Burton did not accept that this lake was the source of the Nile. But Speke, returning to England ahead of Burton, won great kudos for his discovery; and the Royal Geographical Society gave Speke command an expedition to explore the lake more thoroughly.
The excursions of Speke and Burton are captured in the very rare WHAT LED TO THE DISCOVER OF THE COURSE OF THE NILE.
Speke returned to explore again, this time with Grant instead of Burton, due to a falling-out with Burton.
The excursion of Speke and Grant is captured in Speke’s JOURNAL OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, and Grant’s A WALK ACROSS AFRICA. Grant’s narrative is very scarce in first edition.
Samuel Baker, along with his wife (whom he had acquired at a slave-auction in the Ottoman Empire) explored together 1861-1865, and met Speke and Grant on their return journey, and Baker succored Speke and Grant.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Baker ]
The Pethericks were exploring 1861-1865, and were entrusted with supplies meant for the relief of Speke and Grant. Speke and Grant were displeased with Petherick when he arrived where Speke and Grant had a few days earlier met up with Baker. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Petherick]
(we also have up for auction today 2 different Baker books and the book that the Petherick's published with their account of what happened)
(we also have up for auction today 2 different Baker books and the book that the Petherick's published with their account of what happened)
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