[WEST AFRICA] BURTON, Richard F[rancis]

A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome. With Notices of the So Called "Amazons," The Grand Customs, the Yearly Customs, the Human Sacrifices, the Present State of the Slave Trade, and the Negro's Place in Nature

London: Tinsley Brothers, 1864. First Edition. First printing. Octavo (21.5cm). Two volumes in purple cloth, stamped in gilt; brown coated endpapers; [xviii],[2],[7]-386pp; vi,412pp; frontispieces. Shaken, rubbed, bumped, and spine-sunned, f.f.e.p. and first five leaves of vol. II detached but present, overall complete: Good only, perhaps a binding copy.

Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) earned fame as an explorer in India, the Middle East, and Africa, and as an author and translator. In 1861 he accepted a minor consular post at Fernando Po, off the west African coast in The Bight of Biafra. Disliking his post, he traveled as much as possible during that assignment, including this visit to Dahomey (now southern Benin), during which "he was instructed to take diplomatic measures to suppress the slave trade" (ODNB). With p.181 in vol. II mispaginated "381." HOWGEGO B97.

Price: $500.00

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