Afrique

1790 · 33833 — Edinburgh: J. Ruthven for G.GJ. and J. Robinson et al and Printed by George Ramsay and Company for Archibald Constable and Company 1790; 1808. 6 volumes. The First Edition Edinburgh imprint sometimes called “the best edition†Cox with the First Edition of Murray's fine and important work on Bruce. Engraved title vignettes in all volumes. Vol. I with illustrated header on the dedication to the King and with 53 very finely engraved plates and maps and charts including 3 very large folding maps. The Murray volume with an additional 22 engraved plates including a portrait frontispiece of Bruce and two large folding maps at the end of the volume. A total of 75 plates and 5 large folding maps. 4to 300 x 240 mm. with the half-titles in vols. !-!V very handsomely bound in very handsome contemporary half polished calf over marbled paper covered boards. The spines with raised bands are gilt ruled and decorated with gilt lettering on red morocco labels original endleaves end-leaves and with a fine antique engraved armorial plate. Early ownership inscription to title-page and a fine early armorial bookplate. The Bruce lxxxv 535; viii 718; viii 759; viii 695; xiv 230 3 large folding maps index errata pp. The Murray xiii 5044 ads. pp 22 engraved plates and maps. A fine and desirable set in scarce contemporary bindings the paper fresh and clean and the text-blocks as solid as could be the bindings are very handsome withminor evidence of use or age at the extremities a bit of tenderness to the hinges of a few volumes but these are still sturdy and strong and the folding maps are in excellent condition. HIGHLY IMPORTANT EARLY EXPLORATION INTO AFRICA AND A RARE EDITION IN FULL CONTEMPORARY CALF WITH ORIGINAL SPINE PANELS AND WITHOUT REPAIRS. A cornerstone to any collection of Africana this is one of the earliest and greatest illustrated works on the seminal discoveries to be made on the continent over A hundred year period. This set with the added murray volume rarely encountered in matching binding as here.<br> With time on his hands and at the urging of a friend Bruce composed this account of his travels on the African continent including comments on the history and religion of Egypt an account of Indian trade a history of Abyssinia and other such material. Although Bruce would not be confused with "a great scholar or a judicious critic. few books of equal compass are equally entertaining; and few such monuments exist of the energy and enterprise of a single traveller" DNB. "The result of his travels was a very great enrichment of the knowledge of geography and ethnography" Cox II p. 389.<br> Bruce was one of the earliest westerners to search for the source of the Nile. In November of 1770 he reached the source of the Blue Nile and though he acknowledged that the White Nile was the larger stream he claimed that the Blue Nile was the Nile of the ancients and that he was thus the discoverer of its source.<br> The account of his travels was written twelve years after his journey and without reference to his journals which gave critics grounds for disbelief but the substantial accuracy of the book has since been amply demonstrated.<br> James Bruce traveled to Egypt in 1768 accompanied by the Italian artist Luigi Balugani. They spent five years in Upper Egypt Abyssinia and in the exploration of the Nile. With the exception of the French surgeon Poncet no European had visited Abyssinia in over 150 years so Bruce's account was of unique importance in providing valuable information on the region to Europeans. The plates based on his own and Balugani's drawings include maps botanical and zoological specimens antiquities artifacts and plans of monuments.<br> A cornerstone to any collection of Africana this is one of the earliest and greatest illustrated works on the seminal discoveries to be made on the continent over a hundred year period. J. Ruthven for G.GJ. and J. Robinson et al and Printed by George Ramsay and Company, for Archibald Constable and Company hardcover