First edition. Two volumes. 8vo. Original brown pictorial cloth, decorated in gilt and printed in black and grey. Frontispiece and a colour folding map to each volume, with an additional folding map and coloured profile sketch to the second volume. Thirty-six black and white plates in total, with further illustrations in the text and map endpapers. An exceptionally bright, very near fine set. Externally very clean and notably unworn, save for an isolated instance to the lower joint of one volume and a little pushing to the spine ends. Some internal foxing, but chiefly contained to the first and last few leaves of each volume, a small and unobtrusive rectangle of oxidisation to each front free endpaper and a repaired closed tear to one map. In all a very handsome set, uncommonly bright and with sound hinges.

Stanley's famous account of the Emin Pasha relief expedition to equatorial Sudan, a classic of African exploration. The relief mission was costly and harrowing, as Stanley's account shows, with the arduous four month passage through the Ituri forest alone claiming the lives of 180 of Stanley's men and "stands as one of the most gruelling and difficult journey's on record" (Howgego).
Stanley compiled his account of the journey with the efficiency of a seasoned foreign correspondent, writing around twenty pages a day for fifty days at a hotel in Cairo.
The resultant work secured his fame as an explorer and writer:
"Stanley arrived [back] in England to a hero's welcome. His 'In Darkest Africa' was published in June that year, sold 150,000 copies and was immediately translated into six languages. Impresarios in countries as far afield as North America and Australia clamoured for Stanley's presence on the lecture circuits; he was given the freedom of five British cities and awarded honorar doctorates by Edinburgh, Oxford, Durham and Cambridge" (Howgego).
Due to the great weight of the text block copies in the original cloth, in nice condition and with sound hinges, are uncommon.

Howgego IV S60

Stock ID: 39494