Books

First edition. Missionary Travels is one of the emblematic accounts of African exploration in the 19th century and the foundation of the Livingstone legend. He "both embodied and transcended the nineteenth-century tension between religion and science, and it was this which accounted for the scale and complexity of his career in Africa" (ODNB). The book describes the first of his three major expeditions, "in which he followed the Zambezi, discovering Victoria Falls in the process, as well as the Shire and Ruyuma rivers, ranging from Angola in the west to Mozambique in the east... During these years he explored vast regions of central Africa" (PMM). This is Bradlow's variant seven: the frontispiece and plates opposite pages 66 and 225 are wood-engravings by Whymper; the extra leaf after page 8 is absent. As many as 11 variants of the first edition are known and a reliable order of precedence has never been established: it is now accepted that "the only thing that can be said with certainty is that the issue with the extra leaf numbered 8* and 8+ is not the first issue" (Bradlow). The extra leaf contains information on Moffat's mission at Kuruman and on Livingstone's marriage and the upbringing of his children. Provenance: engraved armorial bookplate of the Doughty family on the front pastedown. Octavo. Original moderate brown sand-grain cloth, spine lettered gilt, spine and boards panelled in blind, brown surface-paper endpapers. Wood-engraved folding frontispiece, engraved portrait of Livingstone, 22 wood-engraved plates, folding geological cross section, 2 folding maps (one in endpocket), wood engravings in the text; 8 pp. publisher's advertisements at end. Contemporary gift inscription on verso of front free endpaper, with accompanying note in pencil. Spine ends and inner hinges repaired (ends also lightly chipped), minor shelf wear, scattered foxing. A very good copy. Abbey, Travel 347; Howgego IV L39; Mendelssohn I, p. 908; Printing and the Mind of Man 341; SABIB III, p. 136. F. R. Bradlow, "The Variants of the 1857 edition", Livingstone 1873-1973, 1973.

This book details David Livingstone's explorations in South Africa, his encounters with indigenous peoples, and his efforts to spread Christianity.