THE CONGO AND THE FOUNDING OF ITS FREE STATE

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1885. Very good plus.. First edition of this first-hand account of Henry M. Stanley's years traveling the Congo in the service of the colonial aspirations of Belgium. After making his name by "finding" David Livingstone in Africa in 1871, journalist Henry M. Stanley continued to capitalize on the idea of African exploration. In THE CONGO AND THE FOUNDING OF ITS FREE STATE, Stanley describes his time working as a colonial agent for King Leopold II of Belgium, assessing the resources of the land and brokering treaties with local leaders. Included are accounts of his dire bouts with illness, efforts to plan a route for a railroad, and large passages of often racist anthropological descriptions of the peoples he encountered along the way. THE CONGO AND THE FOUNDING OF ITS FREE STATE is an important snapshot of the European empire-building mindset of the late 19th century. Two volumes, 9'' x 5.75'' each. Original green pictorial cloth bindings with gilt lettering. brown endpapers. Full-page pictorial frontispieces with tissue guards; black-and-white plates and in-text illustrations throughout. Each volume with fold-out map in pocket to rear. 528; 484 pages, vol. 2 with index and 12 pages of ads to rear. Gift inscription to James E. Bayliss, dated 1894, to first blank of vol. 1; ownership inscription of James E. Bayliss to first blank of vol. 2. Bindings with some edgewear, bumping to corners and spine ends; mild sunning to spine. Scattered foxing to markins of leaves; spines cracked at a couple of openings. Clean and bright overall.