IN DARKEST AFRICA, or the Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria

London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1890. 2 volumes. First Edition. Portrait frontispieces, 36 full page illustrations, over 100 illustrations in text, 2 large color folding maps at front, 1 folding map in text, 1 diagram. 8vo, publisher’s original brick red cloth gilt-lettered and with elaborate pictorial decorations in gilt and black on the spines and upper covers. xv, 529; xv, 472, [2] ads pp. A very bright and handsome set, especially well preserved. The cloth, gilt and colours all in very pleasing condition, the bindings showing minimal evidence of age or use, a tight and clean set with the plates and maps in excellent condition and virtually none of the foxing typical to the book. SCARCE FIRST EDITION IN UNUSUALLY FINE CONDITION AND ONE OF THE PRINCIPLE WRITINGS OF ONE OF THE GREATEST EXPLORERS OF THE DARK CONTINENT.
"By 1885 Stanley had become deeply interested in the schemes of Mr. (afterwards Sir) William Mackinnon, chairman of the British India Steam Navigation Company, for establishing a British protectorate in East Equatorial Africa, and it was believed that this object could be furthered at the same time that relief was afforded to Emin Pasha, governor of the the Equatorial Province of Egypt, who had been isolated by the Mahdist rising of 1881-1885...Instead of choosing the direct route Stanley decided to go by way of the Congo, as thereby he would be able to render services to the infant Congo State, then encountering great difficulties with the Zanzibar Arabs established on the Upper Congo" (EB).
Stanley and Tippoo Tib, the chief of the Congo Arabs, entered into an agreement for the latter to assume governorship of the Stanley Falls station and supply carriers for the Emin relief expedition, and then travelled up the Congo to Bangala together. They parted ways at Stanley Falls and Stanley started his trip toward Albert Nyanza, leaving a rear-guard at Yambuya on the lower Aruwimi under the command of Major E.M. Barttelot.
Stanley’s journey to Albert Nyanza became a hazardous 160-day march through “nothing but miles and miles, endless miles of forest” that claimed the lives of over half of Stanley’s men from starvation, disease, and hostility of the natives. Finally upon the arrival at Albert Nyanza, Stanley achieved communication with Emin but was troubled by the non-arrival of his rear-guard. He retraced his steps back to Yambuya to find that Tippoo Tib had broken faith, Barttelot had been murdered, and the camp was in disarray and only one European was left. Stanley again set out for Albert Nyanza, where Stanley, Emin Pasha, and the survivors of the rear-guard began the return journey to Zanzibar by way of Uganda, a trip during which he discovered the Mountains of the Moon (Ruwenzori), traced the course of the Semliki River, discovered Albert Edward Nyanza and the great southwestern gulf of Victorian Nyanza. Of Stanley’s original 646 men, only 246 survived.
This account of his adventures was wildly popular and published in six languages. One of the greatest feats in African travel, Stanley traveled thousands of miles in his claims to the great stretches of continental African territory.