[STANLEY, HENRY M.]. In Darkest Africa, or the Quest Rescue, and Retreat of Emin Governor of Equatoria. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1890.
FIRST EDITION. In two volumes, cloth-bound, hardcover, thick octavo (23cm x 14cm), pp. xv, 529; xi, 472, [2] advertisements. English text with maps and 150 illustrations throughout. Bound in publisher's original decorative cloth, illustrated endpapers, 38 full-page plates, 3 folding maps (2 in colour), 1 sketch profile, numerous in the text illustrations, tables and charts, printed footnotes, rear appendices and indexes. Condition: VERY GOOD. Collated complete. Bindings tight and secure. Covers well-preserved with some bumping to spine ends. Interiors with some very light scattered foxing. Some additional illustrations and newspaper clippings neatly tipped-in. Maps excellent. A handsome set.
Notes: Narrative of Stanley's expedition to rescue Emin Pasha, the embattled German governor of Equatoria (southern Sudan), via an unexplored and perilous route up the Congo. The expedition took two years, traversed 3000 miles (crossing the continent from west to east), and resulted in the death of more than 300 men from starvation, disease, or encounters with the natives. By the time they reached Emin Pasha, it was Stanley and his men who required rescue, rather than the other way around. After a period of recuperation, Stanley and Emin set out for Zanzibar by way of Uganda-in the process tracing the course of the Semliki River and establishing it as the principal connection between Lake Albert and Lake Edward. Despite controversy surrounding the motives and conduct of the expedition, his account became a bestseller, and remains one of the great classics of African exploration.
