THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT, or the Sources of the Nile Around the Great lakes of Equatorial Africa and Down the Livingstone River to the Atlantic Ocean

New York: Harper and Brothers, 1878. 2 volumes. The American issue of the first edition, first issue with date on If title-page. Numerous illustrations and maps throughout, including 34 full page plates and two very large folding maps in rear pockets of each volume. Thick 8vo, publisher’s original forest green cloth pictorially decorated in an overall elaborate design incorporating vibrant colours and gilt, spines similarly decorated and blocked. xiv, 522; ix, 566 pp. A reading set, the volumes have some age wear to the tips and edges, inner hinges of Vol. I separated, some stains from water to a few of the preliminary leaves of Vol. I, some staining from water to the upper quadrant of the text-block in Vol. II, some internal wear, the large folding maps in quite good order with a bit of the usual splitting at the folds but generally speaking, very well preserved, clean and probably never unfolded. The cloth is still rather clean and handsome, the gilt and red decorations stand well, a handsome set for the shelf still and in spite of the internal issues. ONE OF THE GREAT BOOKS IN THE AFRICAN OEUVRE. FIRST EDITION AMERICAN ISSUE.
After the death of Livingstone, Stanley resolved to return to Africa and finish his work, and also to resolve some of the problems introduced by Burton and Speke. Livingstone had considered it his mission to finish mapping and studying Central Africa, resolve some of the questions about the source of the Nile and to report on the doings of the slave traders, a practice that Livingstone spoke actively against. Criticized even at the time for what many considered his harsh treatment of the native peoples, Stanley did manage to finish what Livingstone had started and open up Central Africa to the west.
When Stanley made his first journey, he was one of a very few white people on the entire continent. Within the twenty years which elapsed after Stanley’s first journey, the continent was being viewed as a commercial, political, and strategic destiny by many of the countries in Europe. A very elusive title now.