Exploration of the Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia; The Sources, Supply, and Overflow of the Nile; The Country, People, Customs, Etc.

Hartford (CT): Published by O.D. Case & Co, 1868. First American edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo. [5], vi-xx, [3], 24-608 pp. Wood-engraved frontispiece with 15 additional engraved plates, based on original sketches by the author; one fold-out map and a full-page map. Brown pebbled cloth with gold lettering on the spine. Concluding the title page: "Interspersed with many highly exciting adventures of the author, among elephants, lions, buffaloes, hippopatmi, rhinoceros, antelopes, and other great game of the country; accompanied by expert native sword hunters." Baker provides an account of Eastern Africa: its animals, its peoples, its rivers, its lakes, and its landscapes. He completed the European discovery of the source of the Nile, naming the Albert Nyanza, with help from Sir John Speke. His account of Eastern Africa would greatly influence the common person's attitudes and perceptions of the Nile basin and the peoples who lived there. The plates in the volume depict Baker's penchant for big game hunting. Throughout his life Baker would travel to Eastern Africa, India, and Central Asia to hunt the big game animals that lived in these regions. Other than hunting, Baker served as a governor of Egyptian territory in the Nile Basin, working to suppress the Arab slave trade and advance British interests in the region. This volume presents an important record in the history of colonization and the natural history of the Nile basin (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "Baker, Sir Samuel White"). A Very Good book with rubbing to the edges of the boards, two former owner's markings, front hinge slightly starting.