Books

First American edition, de luxe. Two volumes. New York: J.J. Little & Co. for Charles Scribner's Sons, 1890. Octavo (8 5/8" x 5 13/16", 219mm x 148mm). With 2 steel-engraved portrait frontispieces, 44 lithographed plates (of which 1 a chromolithographed elevation), 104 in-text illustrations and 3 folding chromolithographed maps in pockets. Bound in the publisher's de luxe dark brown morocco with the title gilt to the front board. On the spine, 5 raised bands. Title gilt to the second panel, author and number gilt to the fourth. Gilt inside dentelle. Marbled end-papers. All edges of the text-block gilt. Sunned at the spines and along the upper edges of the boards. Some scuffing at the extremities, and a little wear at the very corner-tips. Pocket of vol. II starting at the top, and some thumb-wear to the folding maps. Label of the Publishers' and Booksellers' Protective association (mechanically stamped "49175" in blue ink) to the verso of the rear free end-paper of vol. I. Altogether a remarkably clean and fresh set in the rare publisher's de luxe binding. Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) -- of "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" fame -- emigrated to the United States, fought for both the Confederacy and the Union (Army and Navy), and then traveled the American West and the world as a journalist, often getting captured or narrowly avoiding death. He was made famous by his 1871-1872 expedition through Zanzibar and Tanzania in search of David Livingstone, but the present work describes his 1887-1890 expedition to rescue the (German-Jewish-born) Emin Pasha, governor of the Equatoria province of Southern Egypt, whose life was imperiled by the capture of Khartoum. In Darkest Africa is a work notorious for its descriptions of outrageous and brutal tactics, as well cannibalism and other extreme bizarrenesses, but it is also the most important first-hand document of the Scramble for Africa, the simultaneous global effort to explore, colonize and capitalize Africa. This period lasted from the 1830's until after WWII, when independence movements arose during the Cold War, and gave rise to the pan-African movement. As such, the present work is an essential text of Africa when it was the focus and fascination of the Western World. Dr. Eric M. van Rooy (1963-2023) was born in Belgium -- Stanley was in the employ of King Leopold II of Belgium at the time he set out on the expedition -- but, like Stanley, emigrated to the United States. He studied in Syracuse, NY and then rose to be chief resident and medical director of the department of radiation oncology at St. Francis Hospital. At his Connecticut home he amassed an extraordinary collection of furniture, decorative arts and books; the present item was lot 256 in the April 2024 Bonham's-Skinner sale of that collection. Van Rooy likely purchased the set from Raptis Rare Books, whose description is laid in to vol. I. Hosken, Catalogue of Books on Africa p. 89.

Stanley's account of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, detailing the experiences and obstacles faced while navigating the Congo.