Travel
BAKER, Samuel White
The Albert N'Yanza, great basin of the Nile, and explorations of the Nile sources.
Macmillan and Co., London, 1866. First edition. INSCRIBED PRESENTATION COPY. 2 volumes, 8vo., xxx, 395; ix, 384pp., double-portrait frontispiece in volume i, lithograph frontispiece in volume ii, 2 maps ( 1 large folding with tears repaired), 13 full-page plates, 20 illustrations in text, original green cloth gilt, large gilt pictorial vignettes to upper covers, light wear to spines, modern slipcase, a very good set.
Presentation copy of the first edition, an early issue, with the incorrect plate list in vol. ii calling for two maps at end of the volume that are at the front of vol. i; volume i includes an additional plate opposite page 351, not called for in list of plates. The presentation reads: " The Lady Wharncliffe / from /Sam W Baker / 25 May / 1866." The great adventurer, Baker, after various adventures in Ceylon and the area around the Black Sea, went to Africa and embarked on his greatest adventure, namely to discover the source of the Nile. Having met up with Speke and Grant and exchanging valuable information with them, he eventually discovered the third great Nile lake, the Albert N'Yanza, but only after most of his men had deserted him and he had been forced to rely on the help of the slave trader Ibrahim and capricious local ruler, Kamrasi. One of the great travel narratives. Hilmy I, 49; Czech p10.
Price: £ 3000
US Dollar Price: $ 4350
Stock Number: 58483