Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa:

London: by W. Bulmer and Co. for the author; and sold by G. and W. Nicol; [and] for John Murray, by W. Bulmer and Co.,, 1799 & 1815. A classic of travel literature" with a distinguished provenance Second and first editions respectively of the earliest accounts of the interior of Africa, hitherto little-known in the West. The Travels of 1799 "has become a classic of travel literature, and its scientific observations on the botany and meteorology of the region, and on the social and domestic life of the [indigenous peoples], have remained of lasting value" (PMM). This attractive set in contemporary tree calf is from the library of Harriot, Duchess of St Albans (1777?-1837), one of the most remarkable women of the age: formerly the "darling of the frivolous London stage"; mistress then wife of Thomas Coutts, one of the wealthiest men in Britain; Harriot became a successful businesswoman in her own right before her marriage to the ninth duke in 1827. Each volume bears her Stratton Street Library bookplate. "Written in a straightforward, unpretentious, narrative style, [Park's Travels] gave readers their first realistic description of everyday life in west Africa, depicted without the censorious, patronizing contempt which so often has disfigured European accounts of Africa. For though Park disliked what he perceived as the superstitions of paganism and the bigotry of Islam, and regretted that 200 years of acquaintance with Europeans had left them totally ignorant of Christianity, he presented the people he met as people basically like himself" (ODNB). Immediately successful, ODNB notes that "three editions were printed during the first year, and it was immediately translated into French and German, and eventually other languages". Apart from the north-east region and coastal areas, hardly anything was known in the West of the interior of Africa prior to the publication of Park's Travels in 1799. After four failed attempts, the African Association, headed by Sir Joseph Banks, designated Scotsman Mungo Park, who set sail on 22 May 1795, to find and explore the Niger. "Travelling eastward from the English factory at Pisania (where he learned the Mandingo language) along the River Gambia, Park reached the Niger at Segou and followed its course for about one hundred miles to Sulla, where difficulties forced him to turn back [and on being taken ill he returned to England in 1799]... After the publication of his book Park withdrew to a country medical practice at Peebles. He soon got bored with the quiet life; and in 1805 he set out on another voyage to the Niger. This time he actually travelled on the river in a canoe, hoping to follow it to its mouth. But he met great hardships, lost a number of his men... [and finally] perished in a fight with natives. Fortunately, he had earlier sent back his journals to Gambia and they formed the basis of a second account of his voyages issued by the African Association... Park did not solve the problem of the Niger: he believed it to be a tributary of the Nile or to be really identical with the Congo; but he set the further exploration of the region in the right direction" (PMM). Two works, quarto (approx. 255 x 200 mm). Contemporary tree calf, smooth spines divided by paired gilt fillets, green morocco labels trimmed with a gilt scrolling foliate roll (differing slightly in style of lettering and decoration), tawny numbering roundels, blind milled edge roll, yellow edges. Fine stipple-engraved portrait of Park by Dickinson after Henry Edridge, 3 engraved folding maps (1 hand coloured in outline), 5 engraved plates (2 folding), and a double page of music scores; large folding map hand coloured in outline as frontispiece to second work, and a few in-text illustrations and diagrams. Bindings professionally refurbished with particular attention to joints, a few old scratches and abrasions to bindings, both front pastedowns roughened (the second showing a tidemark) where previous bookplate has been removed, signature erased at head of title page of first work, short split at foot of map of Park's route in same vol., old discreet repair to first map of second work, scattered foxing, occasional offsetting from plates, yet this remains a very good set. Howgego I P21; Ibrahim-Hilmy II p. 93; Printing and the Mind of Man 253; Speake II, pp. 925-6.