ACROSS AFRICA

London: Daldy, Isbister and Co., 1877. 2 volumes. First edition. 33 plates and facsimiles, numerous woodcuts in text, large folding map in rear pocket. 8vo, publisher’s original dark blue cloth lettered and extensively decorated in gilt on upper covers and spines, bordered in blind on the lower cover. xvi, 389 including index, ads; xii, 366 including index, ads. pp. A bright, handsome and excellent set, clean and tight and very well preserved. SCARCE AND IMPORTANT FIRST EDITION. After a naval career that took him to Ethiopia and the slaving areas of East Africa, Cameron was selected by the Royal Geographical Society in 1873 to go in search of Livingstone, and instructed also to make independent explorations with Livingstone’s guidance. Upon learning of Livingstone's death, Cameron’s European companions turned back but Cameron dedicated his expedition to geographical exploration of the African continent and forged ahead alone, arriving in Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika in 1874, where he found some of Livingstone’s papers and sent them back to England. Here he began his quest of exploration with his attempts to discover the “true form” of the south part of the lake, which ended up feeding into the Lukuga river. He went west from there to a town previously visited by Livingstone on the Lualaba river, which he suspected (rightly) was the main source for the River Congo but was unsuccessful in his attempts to prove it. His journeys took him further to the southwest until he reached the coast on November 28, 1875, becoming the first European to cross Equatorial Africa “from sea to sea.”
ACROSS AFRICA is the work for which he is best known, containing the exciting detailed account of this cross-continental journey as well as the author’s suggestions for the opening of the African continent such as utilizing the great lakes in a “Cape to Cairo” connection. Cameron spent the remainder of his life working on commercial development projects in places such as Turkey and the Persian Gulf and writing tales for the young. He also accompanied Sir Richard Burton in his West African journey of 1882 and was joint author of Burton’s TO THE GOLD COAST FOR GOLD. Cameron was killed by a fall from horseback as he returned from a hunting expedition in 1894. An excellent set of this important work.