The Albert Nyanza, Great Basin of the Nile and Explorations of the Nile Sources

London & Philadelphia: Macmillan / Lippincott, 1866.

First single volume edition. 8vo (9 x 6 ins); pp xxvi + 509. Portrait frontispiece plus six engraved and plates and numerous illustrations in the text. Two coloured maps at the back, one of which is folded. Folding map has a repaired tear across one corner. Original cloth boards with embossed gilt illustrations of canoeist in front of a setting (or rising) sun to front board, gilt lettering to spine, which is slightly sun faded and rubbed at ends. Mild foxing to front endpapers. A VG+ copy. An account of the discovery of the Albert Nyanza, the great reservoir of the equatorial waters, from which the river issues as the White Nile. Samuel Baker and his then-partner, Florence, led a successful but disaster-riven expedition to the sources of the White Nile. They travelled from Khartoum, following the course of the White Nile, met with Speke and Grant's expedition returning from Lake Victoria, then following information from local Africans, became the first Europeans to see Luta N'zigé, which they renamed Lake Albert. They were also the first Europeans to see the Murchison Falls. Samuel and Florence were married on their return to England. The first edition of his account was published in two volumes; this is the first one-volume edition, published the same year.