First edition of the French translation for volumes 2, 3 and 4; second edition of the French translation for volume 1. (Not listed by Gay).
A few occasional spots, not affecting the overall freshness of the copy.
Bound in uniform olive green half percaline, smooth spines with gilt floral device and double gilt rules at foot, boards covered with decorative patterned paper, mauve endpapers and pastedowns, inner hinges discreetly restored with adhesive or partly split, all edges red.
Illustrated with 53 black plates comprising 92 engravings, 4 chromolithographs, a fine folding map of Northern and Central Africa showing the explored areas and the route taken, and a frontispiece portrait of the author.
Illustrations distributed as follows:
Volume 1: a frontispiece portrait of the author and one colour plate.
Volume 2: (pagination jumps from 164 to 167 without loss), one colour plate and 18 black plates.
Volume 3: one colour plate.
Volume 4: one colour plate, 35 black plates, and a large folding colour map.
The four colour plates are titled: Taepe, point of confluence of the Benue and Faro rivers, 13 June 1851. – Herd of elephants near Lake Chad, 25 September 1851. – Arrival in Timbuktu, 7 September 1853. – Ashenoumma, 17 June 1855. Lithographed after the author's drawings and printed by J. Adam in Munich.
Note: the first black plate in volume 2 and the colour map in volume 4 need to be remounted.
Conducted between 1850 and 1855, Henri Barth's explorations "resteront à jamais célèbres dans les annales de la géographie": he provided accurate data on the entire region of Central Africa stretching from Bagirmi in the east to Timbuktu in the west, discovered the Benue River, and more.
A handsome, uniformly bound copy of this much sought-after work.