Travels In The Interior Districts Of Africa: Performed Under The Direction And Patronage Of The African Association, In The Years 1795, 1796, And 1797…With An Appendix, Containing Geographical Illustrations Of Africa. By Major Rennell

London: Printed By W.Bulmer And Co. For The Author; And Sold By G. & W.Nicol, 1799., 1799. 4to. pp. 2 p.l., [vii]-xxviii, 372, xcii. lacking half-title. engraved frontis. portrait, 3 engraved maps (1 folding, 2 double-page & folding), & 5 engraved plates (2 folding). without the 2 engraved plates of music which are not always present. An attractive copy, bound in contemporary russia, rebacked with gilt spine mounted, all edges gilt (corners & spine bit rubbed, upper rear joint starting to crack, some offsetting from plates, several gatherings lightly embrowned). engraved armorial bookplates of the Right Honble. Sir Robert Peel, Bart., & of Sir Charles Bine Renshaw, Bart., Barochan. First Edition. [BOUND WITH:] PARK, Mungo. The Journal Of A Mission To The Interior Of Africa, In The Year 1805…Together With Other Documents, Official And Private, Relating To The Same Mission. To Which Is Prefixed An Account Of The Life Of Mr. Park. 4to. pp. 5 p.l., cxxx, [2], 219. lacking half-title. folding engraved map. several text illus. London: Printed For John Murray By W.Bulmer And Co., 1815. First Edition. In 1795 Park was selected by the African Association to lead an exploring expedition into the interior of Africa. Starting from the Gambia and travelling eastward with only a negro servant, a boy, one horse, and two asses, he became the first modern Europen to reach the Niger River, whose course he traced some 300 miles as far as Silla. The journey was plagued with adversity; Park was robbed of all his trafficable property early on, and at one point, he was imprisoned by an Arab chief for four months, escaping only with great difficulty. He returned to the Gambia by a route further south, through the Mandingo country, mostly on foot as far as Camalia. There he fell dangerously ill with fever, being nursed back to health over a seven month period by a negro, Kaarta Taura, and finished his return journey in the company of a caravan. Park began his second and last expedition in search of the source of the Niger River on January 30th, 1805. By August, when they reached Bambakoo on the Niger, only eleven of the forty European members of the expedition were still alive. Park himself died some time in late 1805 or early 1806 at Boussa when he was attacked by natives, although no details were known until 1812. Park’s last communications date from November when he was about to descend the river from Sansandingo in a flat-bottomed vessel fashioned, mainly with his own hands, out of two canoes. His journal, which was safely conveyed to the Gambia together with his last communications by his guide Isaaco, was published by the African Institute to aid his widow and family. Also included here is a biography of Park by E.Wishaw, as well as Isaaco’s journal and an account of the fate of the expedition related by another guide, Adami Fatouma. "Until the publication of Park’s [first] book in 1799 hardly anything was known of the interior of Africa, apart from the north-east region and the coastal areas…Park’s Travels had an immediate success and was translated into most European languages. It 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 negroes, have remained of lasting value. Park’s career was short, but he made the first great practical advance in the opening-up of Central Africa." (Printing and the Mind of Man) Cox I pp. 394-95. Hosken p. 154. Howgego P21. Ibrahim-Hilmy II 93. Printing and the Mind of Man 253.. 1st Edition.