In Darkest Africa: or, the Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin Governor of Equatoria. by STANLEY, Henry M. (1841-1904)

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1890. 2 volumes. 8vo., (8 6/8 x 5 6/8 inches). Two large folding lithographic maps of ".Great Forest Region." ".Route of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition through Africa", and a smaller map ".of Emin Pasha's Province" in pockets at the end of each volume (some folds torn), engraved frontispiece portrait of Stanley in each volume, illustrated throughout with wood-engravings. Original green pictorial diced cloth gilt (a bit rubbed). First American edition, published in the same year in London in both trade and deluxe, signed, limited editions. Stanley's celebrated account of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1886-1889 which traversed "Darkest Africa" up the Congo River through the Ituri Forest to the beleaguered province of Equatoria to rescue the reluctant governor Emin Pasha from the Mahdist revolt that had already succeeded in overwhelming Gordon at Khartoum. Relief came at high cost, with the los of two-thirds of the expedition as a result of death and desertion. It was the last privately funded European expedition of its kind, all subsequent expeditions being state funded and ostensibly for scientific purposes. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.