[WEST AFRICA] [NIGER] LANDER, Richard and John

Journal of An Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger; With A Narrative of A Voyage Down That River To Its Termination

London: John Murray, 1832. First Edition. First printing. 16mo (15.5cm). Three volumes halfbound in contemporary green calf and brown marbled paper, tooled in gilt on spine with titles on red and brown leather spine labels, all edges sprinkled red; plain endpapers; I: [iii]-lxiv,272pp; II: [iii]-[viii],321,[3]pp; III: [iii]-[viii],354,[2]pp; one page of publisher's ads at rear of vol. II; 3 frontospieces, 5 plates, and large folding map in vol. I. All three volumes bound without half-titles. Armorial bookplate of E. W. Wynne Pendarves. Tight and sound, rubbed at edges, spine-sunned, spine leather on vols I-II dry and cracking slightly; occasional minor foxing, else clean: Very Good.

The Lander brothers set out in 1830 to explore the course of the Niger River (whose unusual bending course had baffled European explorers to that date). The Landers traveled overland through what is now Ghana to reach the river. They traveled upstream to Yelwa (in modern Nigeria) and then downstream to Igbo-Ora, where they were captured and ransomed. They eventually followed the river downstream to the Niger Delta, which "settled the vexed question of the course and outlet of the Niger which many had thought flowed inland to Lake Chad... [and] opened up the whole of central Africa to commerce" and colonization (ODNB). Upon their return to the UK, Murray bought their journals for 1000 guineas, and Richard was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society. HOWGEGO L10.

Price: $500.00

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