IN DARKEST AFRICA, or the Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria by Stanley Henry M - 1890

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1890. 2 volumes. First edition, the American issue. Illustrated with portrait frontispieces, 43 full page illustrations, a profusion of illustrations in the text, 3 large color folding maps in pockets, 1 folding map bound within the text block, 1 diagram. 8vo, publisher's original green cloth lettered in gilt on the spines which also feature gilt busts of Stanley, with gilt and black decoration on the upper covers and Stanley's signature in gilt. xiv, 547; xvi, 540 including index. An especially fine and bright set in excellent and unusually nice condition. Rare thus. AN EXCELLENT SET. VERY SCARCE IN THIS CONDITION, AND ONE OF THE PRINCIPLE WRITINGS BY ONE OF THE GREATEST EXPLORERS OF THE DARK CONTINENT. The work is the original report to the Emin Pasha Relief Committee and the funding group for the expedition, one of the most important of all African exploratory adventures.
"By 1885 Stanley had become deeply interested in the schemes of Mr. (afterwards Sir) William Mackinnon, chairman of the British India Steam Navigation Company, for establishing a British protectorate in East Equatorial Africa, and it was believed that this object could be furthered at the same time that relief was afforded to Emin Pasha, governor of the Equatorial Province of Egypt, who had been isolated by the Mahdist rising of 1881-1885...Instead of choosing the direct route Stanley decided to go by way of the Congo, as thereby he would be able to render services to the infant Congo State, then encountering great difficulties with the Zanzibar Arabs established on the Upper Congo" (EB).
Stanley and Tippoo Tib, the chief of the Congo Arabs, entered into an agreement for the latter to assume governorship of the Stanley Falls station and supply carriers for the Emin relief expedition, and then travelled up the Congo to Bangala together. They parted ways at Stanley Falls and Stanley started his trip toward Albert Nyanza, leaving a rear-guard at Yambuya on the lower Aruwimi under the command of Major E.M. Barttelot.
Stanley’s journey to Albert Nyanza became a hazardous 160-day march through “nothing but miles and miles, endless miles of forest” that claimed the lives of over half of Stanley’s men from starvation, disease, and hostility of the natives. Finally upon the arrival at Albert Nyanza, Stanley achieved communication with Emin but was troubled by the non-arrival of his rear-guard. He retraced his steps back to Yambuya to find that Tippoo Tib had broken faith, Barttelot had been murdered, and the camp was in disarray and only one European was left. Stanley again set out for Albert Nyanza, where Stanley, Emin Pasha, and the survivors of the rear-guard began the return journey to Zanzibar by way of Uganda, a trip during which he discovered the Mountains of the Moon (Ruwenzori), traced the course of the Semliki River, discovered Albert Edward Nyanza and the great southwestern gulf of Victorian Nyanza. Of Stanley’s original 646 men, only 246 survived.
This account of his adventures was wildly popular and published in six languages. One of the greatest feats in African travel, Stanley traveled thousands of miles in his claims to the great stretches of continental African territory. This particular edition is extremely scarce in such excellent condition.