First Edition, Edition de Luxe. Number 64 of 250 copies signed by Stanley. Stanley’s famous account of his expedition to relieve Emin Pasha (Eduard Schnitzer), the beleaguered governor of equatorial Sudan, contains some of his most celebrated writing, especially his account of the tortuous 450-mile passage through the dense Ituri rain forest. Stanley’s dealings with Emin Pasha (who proved resistant to being “rescued”), his abandonment of his own rear column and his wider motives for his mission have all come under suspicion then and since, but the book remains a classic of African exploration. In the course of the journey Stanley met Roger Casement, then in service on the Congo, discovered the great snow-capped range of Ruwenzori, the Mountains of the Moon, a new lake which he named the Albert Edward Nyanza and a large south-western extension of Lake Victoria. Translations of In Darkest Africa appeared quickly in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch while sales of the English trade editions reached 150,000 copies. Loosely inserted into this copy is a 2pp. facsimile of a letter to Scribners from Herbert Ward headed “One of Stanley’s Officers on ‘Heroes of the Dark Continent.’ A Palpable Fraud exposed” in which he denies “emphatically” having supplied any information for the book by J.W.Buel, and “trusting that you will find means of exposing this palpable fraud.”
2 volumes, demy 4to. Original dark brown half morocco, vellum boards with the title, flag of Emin Pasha and Stanley’s signature to the upper boards gilt, titles to spines gilt, top edges gilt, others uncut. With titles printed in red & black, engraved portrait frontispiece of Stanley printed on India paper, 45 plates, including 6 etched plates signed in pencil by G. Montbard, 4 maps (3 folding), 1 folding printed table, and 103 illustrations in the text (3 full-page). Light browning of some plates, sides slightly marked, joints carefully restored, a very good copy.
