[STANLEY, HENRY M.]. The Congo and the Founding of its Free State: A Story of Work and Exploration. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1885.
FIRST EDITION. In two volumes; leather-bound; hardcover; octavo (22 x 14 cm); pp. xxvii, 528; x, 483, maps. English text. Bound in handsome contemporary half calf gilt by Mudie; marbled boards, page edges and endpapers; 44 full-page illustrations; 79 smaller illustrations; 5 folding coloured maps; rear appendix and index. Printed by William Clowes and Sons. Provenance: David Jardine Jardine's armorial bookplate to front pastedowns. Condition: VERY GOOD. Collated complete. Bindings tight and secure with the hinges and joints perfectly intact. Covers well-preserved, the spines very lightly sunned. Interiors remarkably fresh and clean. Maps excellent. A handsome and bright set of this elusive first edition, very well-preserved indeed.
Notes: Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841 1904) was a journalist and explorer renowned for his adventures in Africa. After emigrating to America in 1859, Stanley worked as a journalist for the New York Herald. In 1869 he was instructed to undertake an expedition to find the missionary David Livingstone, and the success of this mission brought him public recognition and financial success. These volumes, first published in 1885, provide an account of Stanley's exploration of the Congo river in the service of Leopold II of Belgium between 1879 and 1884. The sequel to Stanley's "Through the Dark Continent". Deriving from Stanley's personal journal, the books describe the difficulties he faced as he founded permanent trading stations, the founding of Leopoldville, the discovery of Lake Leopold and his negotiations with indigenous leaders, together with his plans for the commercial exploitation of Africa. Howgego IV S59.
