Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$1672.64 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Ink signed & dated by Stanley, with one hundred and fifty illustrations and maps. Two volumes in the publishers printed red cloth, gilt titles & black ink illustrations, corners bumped slightly. Spines gilt titles, edges bumped. Map end papers to both volumes. Vol 1, 1890, group portrait frontis (with guard), [3], (iv-xv), [1], [1], 2-529 pp, [1], large folding map (coloured), with stamp (WH)? to verso, loose at fpd, 15 full page illustrations, 59 illustrations within text, ink owners stamp to tp (HW?), 2 small brass fittings supporting the elastic map holder to front board, almost invisible cloth edge repair at spine, ink owners name to verso frontis (Clive Christie, Cambridge). Vol 2, 1890, portrait frontis with guard), [3], (iv-xv), [1], [1], 2-472 pp, [2] adverts, ink signature w/date May? 61/90 to frontis (not stamped), 3 maps (coloured, 2 folding), 26 full page & 46 illustrations within text, ink ownership signature to fep (William Farkinson?). Some light spotting. (221*144 mm). ([Hosken p.189). Henry Morton Stanley was a Welsh-American journalist and explorer who had made his name after ‘finding’ Dr David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary and explorer who the western world had lost contact with while on an expedition to discover the source of the Nile. After ‘finding’ Livingstone, Stanley continued to explore the African continent; between 1886 and 1890 he led the expedition for the relief of Emin Pasha. In Darkest Africa (1890) is his account as leader of the controversial Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. The mission was plagued by violence, disease, high casualties and scandals involving Europeans members of the expedition.
Seller: Madoc Books (ABA-ILAB), Llandudno, CONWY, United Kingdom
Price: US$3500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Deluxe Limited Edition (Demy Quarto Edition de Luxe), this being #92 of 250 numbered copies. 2 volume set, complete. A Very Good set. 4to., [Vol.1] 529; [Vol.2] 472 pp., illustrated with frontispieces, 44 plates (6 of them etchings signed by the artist), text drawings, and 5 maps (1 of which is a large, folding map). Bound in half brown morocco and vellum, with title, flag design and author's signature in gilt on the front boards. Top edge gilt. SIGNED by Stanley on the limitation page. Some edge wear on the leather. The vellum boards are soiled. Matching book plates of F. W. Sykes, Esq. Dust soiling to the text block's fore edge. Some light, monor foxing to the frontispieces and some maps. Very Good. *** Expedited and international shipping only, will require additional postage.
Seller: Frey Fine Books, Rougemont, NC, U.S.A.
Price: US$3850.00 + shipping
Description: Signed limited Demy Quarto Edition de Luxe. #230 of 250 copies printed. Quarto (30cm). Two volumes half-bound in black morocco and vellum, stamped in gilt on front and spines. top edges gilt; plain endpapers; I: [ii],[xvi],529,[1]pp; II: [ii],[xvi],472pp; 2 photogravure frontispieces, 6 etchings, 2 large color folding maps backed in linen, 1 color folding map, 1 color diagram, 36 chine collé relief plates, numerous in-text relief illustrations, and a facsimile of a leaf from Stanley's original notebook. Untrimmed. Signed by author on limitation leaf; each etching signed in pencil by the artist, G. Montbard. A sturdy set, rubbed, with minor external dustsoil, red stains to front board of vol. 2 as though transferred from another book, internally with occasional browning to edges, plate supports browned and foxed, otherwise clean: around Very Good. Stanley's account of the 1886-1889 expedition he led to rescue Emin Pasha, Governor of the Egyptian province of Equatoria, after his administration was overwhelmed during the Mahdist War. The expedition passed through the Belgian Congo, including a grueling five-month passage through the Ituri rain forest (the darkness of which inspired this book's title). Eventually they reached Emin, persuaded him to leave, and made their way to the eastern cost. In Darkest Africa was published soon after the conclusion of the expedition, initially to great acclaim. But as more information emerged from other participants, detailing high levels of death and brutality in the expedition, Stanley 's reputation suffered considerably. HOWGEGO IV S60.
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
Price: US$5000.00 + shipping
Description: Quarto, 2 volumes; VG-; bound in publisher's three quarter brown morocco and gilt-stamped vellum, paneled spine with gilt lettering; top edge gilt, others untrimmed; both volumes with some shelfwear and rubbing, cracking to hinges, rubbing and bumping to corners; volume two with vellum curling and peeling up along spine edge, small closed tear to front board vellum, two spots of damage holes to center of front board, large scratch to morocco on front board; volume one with two clusters of pinprick holes to the front board; Signed by Stanley on leaf at front noting this the "Author's Special Copy," where the limitation page usually is placed. with photogravure frontispieces on mounted India paper, three folding maps, two backed with linen and of a larger size, 6 original etched plates, each signed in pencil by artist G. Montbard, and a multitude of wood engravings on tissue paper; EH Consignment; shelved case 9. 'Author's Special Copy' which matches the limited edition of 250 copies of the Quarto Edition de Luxe. One of a small number of copies for presentation; 1363928. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.
Seller: Second Story Books, ABAA, Rockville, MD, U.S.A.
Price: US$6029.22 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Luxury edition limited to 250 copies. xv,[1],529;xv,[1],472pp. Two volumes. Quarto in original bevelled edge half black morocco and vellum boards with five raised bands and gilt lettered spine, gilt lettered front panel with gilt vignette of flag and fern, and gilt top edge, others uncut. 2 mounted steel engraved portraits on tissue paper (frontispiece in each volume), frontispiece of vol 1 with a closed tear. 2 heliogravure plates (group portraits), 36 plates and illustrations in text from woodcuts, 6 etchings (signed), 2 gravure plates (group portraits), 36 plates and illustrations in text from woodcuts, 6 etchings (signed), 2 facsimiles (pages from Stanley's notebook), 3 colour folding maps and 1 colour section. Crisp, clean copy with some soiling to the vellum boards. Boards a bit bowed as usual. Minor bump to the fore-edge of the front board of vol 2. Bookseller's label on the down corner of front pastedown. Signs of shelf wear. Copy #239/250. Very good plus condition. Deluxe large paper Edition signed by Stanley and detailing his expedition from the mouth of the Congo to rescue Emin Pasha, who had been appointed Governor of Equatoria by General Gordon, then abandoned when the Mahdi overran the Sudan.
Seller: Aquila Books(Cameron Treleaven) ABAC, Calgary, AB, Canada
Price: US$8500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Two volumes. Demy quarto edition de luxe. Copy #53 of 250 signed by Henry Stanley. A near fine set with lightly rubbed morocco and vellum, slight lifting to Vol. I's front vellum; internally clean and bright. The finest edition of a classic of exploration literature, luxuriously bound in vellum and dark rich morocco, containing 44 plates (six of them etchings signed by the artist), four maps, one table, and over a hundred illustrations.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Price: US$10450.00 + shipping
Description: 2 volumes. Edition de Luxe. One of a limited edition of 250 numbered copies signed by Stanley on the reverse of the half-title. With 6 etchings and 150 woodcut illustrations and 3 folding maps. Each of the etchings are signed in pencil by the artist. Large 4to, contemporary three-quarter brown morocco and with vellum covered sides, gilt lettered on the spines, gilt lettered and with gilt flag vignette on the upper covers, t.e.g. and all edges untrimmed. xv, 529; xi, 472 pp. Index in each volume. A lovely example of this rare set, the bindings unusually fresh with the morocco and vellum in an especially good state of preservation, extremely fresh and clean internally. Only a light bit of aging to the vellum, quite unusual in this condition. VERY SCARCE LIMITED EDITION OF 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. Stanleys 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 Stanleys 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 Stanleys original 646 men, only 246 survived. This account of his adventures was wildly popular and published in six languages. This particular edition is extremely scarce in such excellent condition.
Seller: Buddenbrooks, Inc., Newburyport, MA, U.S.A.