signed first edition
1890 · New York
by Stanley, Henry M.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1890. First edition. Near Fine. One of 250 deluxe large-paper copies signed by Henry Morton Stanley. The American issue, published in the same year and using the same sheets as the English issue. Publisher's half dark brown morocco over vellum with gilt lettering and flag emblem. Two volumes, quarto. xv, [1], 529, [1]; xv, [1], 472 pp. Collating complete with plates (including frontisportraits of Stanley and six etchings signed in pencil by M.G. Montbard) and three fold-out color maps. Some rubbing to edges of boards and some spots of discoloration to vellum. Edges untrimmed, occasionally toned. Volume two with the original black bookmark ribbon (lacking in volume one). A bright, Near Fine set overall.
In Darkest Africa is the account of Henry Morton Stanley's (1841 – 1904) expedition to assist Emin Pasha, the embattled governor of equatorial Sudan. Though his attempt was initially seen as heroic by the English and American public, Stanley later drew criticism for the high expense (and fatality rate) of his expedition, as well as for his motives in undertaking the venture. "Although Stanley was widely acclaimed as a hero on his return to Britain," Felix Driver writes in the Oxford DNB, "the Emin Pasha relief expedition was far from a success...In addition to the ‘relief’ of the unwilling Pasha, Stanley had a number of other objectives, including the enhancement of the authority of both Leopold's Congo state in the west and Mackinnon's newly formed Imperial British East Africa Company in the east. More immediately, he had hoped to obtain Emin's valuable cache of ivory" (ODNB). Stanley was a "masterful story-teller," however, and this popular, widely-praised account of his journey became a classic of nineteenth-century African explorer narratives (ODNB). Near Fine. (Inventory #: 6997)
In Darkest Africa is the account of Henry Morton Stanley's (1841 – 1904) expedition to assist Emin Pasha, the embattled governor of equatorial Sudan. Though his attempt was initially seen as heroic by the English and American public, Stanley later drew criticism for the high expense (and fatality rate) of his expedition, as well as for his motives in undertaking the venture. "Although Stanley was widely acclaimed as a hero on his return to Britain," Felix Driver writes in the Oxford DNB, "the Emin Pasha relief expedition was far from a success...In addition to the ‘relief’ of the unwilling Pasha, Stanley had a number of other objectives, including the enhancement of the authority of both Leopold's Congo state in the west and Mackinnon's newly formed Imperial British East Africa Company in the east. More immediately, he had hoped to obtain Emin's valuable cache of ivory" (ODNB). Stanley was a "masterful story-teller," however, and this popular, widely-praised account of his journey became a classic of nineteenth-century African explorer narratives (ODNB). Near Fine. (Inventory #: 6997)
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