In Darkest Africa. Or the Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria

Sampson Low London, 1890 2 volumes. pp. xv, 529; xv, 472, [2, publisher's advertisement]; one wood-engraved frontispiece and one in photogravure, both retaining tissue guards, 37 wood-engraved plates, 3 folding, colour-printed lithographic maps, one colour-printed lithographic geological profile, one folding letterpress table, and numerous wood-engraved illustrations (including maps and plans, a few full-page) in the text; slight foxing throughout both volumes, as usual, frontispiece of volume 2 missing corner and creased, front hinge cracked, small dent at bottom of back board, large folding map has short tear. Spines very slightly sunned and with mild edge-wear, consistent with the covers, these with very slightly bumped corners, a good set in reasonably well preserved original pictorial cloth. First edition of Stanley's famous account of his 1886-9 expedition to relieve Emin Pasha, the governor of Equatoria who was supposedly besieged by Mahdist forces. Stanley's dealings with Emin Pasha (who proved resistant to being "rescued"), his abandonment of his own rear column, and his wider motives for his mission have all come into question then and since, but the book remains a classic of African exploration. It contains some of his most celebrated writing, especially his account of the tortuous 450-mile passage through the dense Ituri rain forest. In the course of the journey Stanley met Roger Casement, then in service on the Congo, discovered the great snow-capped range of Ruwenzori, the Mountains of the Moon, a new lake which he named the Albert Edward Nyanza, and a large south-western extension of Lake Victoria. Translations of In Darkest Africa appeared quickly in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch while sales of the English trade editions reached 150,000 copies. Howgego IV, S60.. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Good.