Lot 4
Dufton, Henry
Narrative of a Journey through Abyssinia in 1862-3
Auction: Africa and the Source of the Nile - Selections from the Library of a Scottish Gentleman | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 1 to 30
Description
With an Appendix on ‘The Abyssinian Captives Question'. London: Chapman & Hall, 1867. First edition, 8vo, xiv 337 pp., original diapered maroon cloth, spine lettered in gilt, half-title, engraved folding map frontispiece (with original hand-colouring), 2 lithographic folding maps, spine toned, evidence of damp-staining along fore edges of boards, short split to one fold of map frontispiece
Provenance
Africa and the Source of the Nile - Selections from the Library of a Scottish Gentleman
Footnote
An important account of travel in the Abyssinian interior several years before the punitive Napier expedition of 1867-8, and the corresponding influx of British observers. The author travelled into Abyssinia from Khartoum and met the ill-fated Emperor Tewodros II at Debra Tabor before returning to Aden via Adowah (Adwa) and Massowah (Massawa) on what is now the Eritrean coast. First editions of this work are rare, especially in the unrestored original cloth.