First Footsteps In East Africa Or, An Exploration Of Harar

London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1856. First edition. Modern black morocco, marbled endpapers, raised bands, red leather spine labels lettered in gilt. Fine. 648 pages. 23 x 15 cm. Two maps, 4 colored lithographic plates; half-title. First edition, second issue, without the suppressed fourth Appendix on female circumcision included in the first issue. In 1849, the East India Company supported an exploration program to present-day Somalia. By 1854, the program was largely abandoned, but was revived by Burton to become his first African expedition. That year, he set out from Aden disguised as an Arab merchant to cross the desert to Harar, a closed city never opened to foreigners. Speke accompanied him on the journey, and their differing accounts of the true source of the Nile River ignited a controversy between them. Appendicies include Speke's diary of his African journey, Hearne's meterological observations, and a description of Cornwallis's 1841 attempt to enter Harrar. Pages 46-47 the only pages toned. Extensive Index. 24 pages of publisher adverts at rear. ABBEY TRAVEL 276. CASADA 35; IBRAHIM-HILMY p.111. PENZER p. 60-63. SPINK 16.