DISCOVERY OF LAKES RUDOLF AND STEFANIE: A NARRATIVE OF COUNT SAMUEL TELEKI'S EXPLORING AND HUNTING EXPEDITION IN EAST EQUATORIAL AFRICA IN 1887 & 1888.

London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1894. 2 volumes. First Edition. Scarcest variant, bound in the blue decorated cloth. With 179 original illustrations including 36 wood-engraved full page plates and 5 coloured maps on two large folding map sheets. Tall 8vo, publisher's original pale blue cloth lettered in gilt and with gilt pictorial designs of African tribesmen and gazelles on top covers and spines, edges untrimmed. xx, 435; xii, 397 pp. A very handsome and pleasing set of this scarce first edition in the scarcest binding colour and with a few old and occasional but small and discreet library markings. The set was part of a reference library and not a lending library, thus remains in very pleasing, as fine condition. Shelf numbers in the lower quadrant of the spines sometime discreetly coloured over in pigment matching the binding colour, only light aging to the volumes. A very attractive pair. RARE FIRST EDITION IN THE MOST PREFERRED OF THE CLOTH COLOURS. This is the scarce account of the exploring and hunting expedition of Count Samuel Telki Von Szek and Lieutenant Ludwig Von Höhnel to Eastern Equatorial Africa. Although the narrative was produced for the general reader and therefore deals more with the adventures and experiences then with the scientific work it contains considerable information of value. As the title suggest, the primary contribution of the expedition was the discovery of Lakes Rudolph and Stephanie in the mountainous region just northeast of Victoria Nyanza and thus adding one more piece to the great puzzle of the African watershed whose complexity had eluded European explorers for decades. There are also accounts of exploration during ascents of Mounts Kilimanjaro and Meru and considerable work of anthropological interest.
This copy is in the rare blue cloth. It is the first and only edition in English and was translated from the original German by Nancy Bell (N. D'Anvers).