Ismailïa ; a narrative of the expedition to Central Africa for the suppression of the slave trade, organized by Ismail, khedive of Egypt.

London: Macmillan, 1874. First edition. First edition. 2 volumes. 23cm; 447, 588 pages, 2 maps (one folding), and 50 wood-engraved plates. Bound in half red straight-grain morocco over marbled boards. Hinges and cap ends reinforced for strength, along with upper joint on volume 1. Scattered foxing. Map abraded near title, and one panel fold split.

Explorer, social liberal, abolitionist, Samuel Baker was appointed by khedive Ismail the Magnificent to lead a military force up the Nile into the Sudan in 1869 to suppress the slave trade there. He (truncated) was given the rank of Major General in the Ottoman Army and outfitted with 1,700 troops. The storied Florence Baker was also present. Basically, Baker spent five years establishing the Ottoman province of Equatoria and serving as its governor-general, until he ceded the post to Charles George "Chinese" Gordon (played by Charlton Heston in the movie "Khartoum"). Baker returned to London where he published this account. He remained at the outer fringes of Victorian society, rejected in part because of his unorthodox marriage (Florence Baker is said to have been rescued from a white slave market). (Inventory #: 3579)