What Led To The Discovery Of The Source Of The Nile

JOHN HANNING SPEKE

Publication: William Blackwood and Sons, 1864, Edinburgh and London

First edition. 8vo. Modern full leather binding, titles stamped in gold gilt on the spine, raised bands, new front and rear endpapers, x, map, [2], 372 pp., frontispiece (engraving of the author's escape from the Somali), advertisement, introduction, footnotes, fold-out map.The fold-out map is of the Somali coast showing the positions of the tribes, and a double-page sketch map of eastern Africa. This is the scarcer of Speke's two books on his Nile expeditions, and the one which describes his expedition with Richard Burton and defends his assertion (correct, but contested by Burton and others) that Lake Victoria was indeed the source of the Nile River. Fold-out map has some old cellophane tape repairs on the verso of a few fold points, double page sketch map has an old, small cellophane tape repair on the verso to reinforce a tiny closed tear, title page has a small, faint stamp of a private library, minor wear to a few internal pages, else a near fine, tight copy of an important and scarce book.

Inventory Number: 33305