The Autobiography of Sir Henry Morton Stanley

Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1909. Hardcover. First American Edition. xvii, 551 pp. Octavo. No dust-jacket. Red cloth with gilt lettering and design on facade and spine. Trimmed edges. Gilt top edge. Top right corner of front paste-down contains Lady (Dorothy) Stanley's presentation card, not dated. Half-title included. B/W frontispiece showcases portrait of Henry M. Stanley as of 1890, protected by original frontis tissue. 16 further B/W illustrations throughout, all protected by original tissue. A colour folding map of Africa, showing Henry Stanley's journeys, at rear. Dorothy Stanley's editor's preface included. Novel concludes with a list of books written by Henry M. Stanley, as well as an index. Fore-edge slightly foxed. Front hinge is becoming loose. Top edge of spine shows minor wear. Front paste-down shows minor foxing. All illustrations and map undamaged. Rare presentation card is undamaged. Internally unmarked. A very nice copy of the first American edition. Sir Henry Morton Stanley, a Welsh-American, was a renowned explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician. Stanley is remembered largely for his exploration of Central Africa in search of sources of the Nile and Congo Rivers, as well as his undertaking of a quest to locate missing Scottish missionary and physician David Livingstone. Stanley's wife, Dorothy Tennant, was an English painter of the Victorian era neoclassicism still highly regarded both for her artistic works and her editorial contributions. Note: Presentation card says "From Lady Stanley - 2 Whitehall Court London." 1909