Africa from Port to Port

London: Harold Shaylor, 1931. First British Edition First Printing. Hardcover. Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Hirschfeld, Al. Publisher's cloth. Somewhat worn and soiled with rubbing to edges, bumping to bottom corners, fraying to spine tips. Age-toning and soiling to page edges. Ex-libris bookplate to front pastedown. Liquid-staining to gutter side of bottom margins through a couple of sections. Occasional minor finger-marking and spotting but contents o/w clean and fresh. xiv, 424 pp. 66 b/w plates + pen and ink chapter headings by Al Hirschfeld. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. May Mott-Smith (1879-1952) was a woman ahead of her time. In an era when the possibilities for women were extremely limited, the thrice-married Mott-Smith roamed across the globe, working as a painter, sculptor, jewelry designer, and travel writer. Her most easily accessible literary work is 'Africa from Port to Port' (published in America in 1930) in which she described a two-year tour around the coast of Africa as a single woman. Her journey began in Tripoli, went west to Morocco and then south to Senegal and Cape Town, up the east coast of Africa (including Madagascar) and ended at Port Said. Mott-Smith's writing gives a vivid eye-witness account of Africa in its mid-colonial stage, with its dirty hotels, impassable roads, and boisterous street scenes. Although she displayed the typical prejudices of her time, her travelogue remains a valuable resource. One reviewer noted that "she has an observing eve and a bright pen, besides a camera, which she used generously and cleverly to illustrate her story." Her book was illustrated by Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003), later a world-famous caricaturist. Professionally packed, sent tracked and/or signed-for, and insured.