Burrows Guy Capt (3 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good+. Boards with light rubbing to extremities. ; Introduction by Henry M. Stanley, dated 1898. Present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. The author was serving as an English officer in the Government of The Congo Free State from 1894 - 1897 and witnessed cannibalism (among many other adventures). ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; xxx, 299 pages.

First edition, early impression. A copy with outstanding provenance and an important Association Copy and a Presentation Copy. The Volume is Autographed and Presented by the publisher and signed by the recipient, William Hoffman, himself a noteworthy explorer who accompanied Stanley to Africa. Three historically significant letters are tipped into the volume including one from Stanley himself, which refers directly to Capt. Burrows, the author of the book as well as to the Congo State and the 'proposal to push the new Railway from Stanleyville East." A second letter from Lieutenant Cloesen, Chef de Zone and dated Feb. 1893, from Wells River, Central Africa states in part that "The Arabs are in great numbr with plenty of guns, close to Nyangara.Nyangara will try and give them a hiding. WE SHALL HAVE TO MAKE WAR WITH THE ARABS." The last letter from Bullinger, dated May 25 1899, Mogandjo, Africa, refers to the state of the author's health: "Awfully glad to hear Burrows is on the mend.please send me 1000 cartridges. I have 110 out emposte & only about 600 odd here. Thanks for the fusils a piston". Over 100 illustrations from photographs, one sketch map, one colour folding map. 8vo, publisher's original dark red cloth, lettered in gilt on spine and upper cover, light blue and gilt image of a flag with a large single star on upper cover. xxviii, list of illustrations, 276, appendix, index,18 (publisher's list) pp. A sturdy and solid copy with expected evidence of use. The owner was one of the group that accompanied Stanley to Africa and it is clear that he used his books and read them with fervour. FIRST EDITION, RARE AND IMPORTANT AND A COPY WITH ESPECIALLY INTERESTING PROVENANCE AND WITH THE INCLUSION OF THREE HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT LETTERS LINKING BURROWS WITH BULLINGER, CLOESEN, HOFFMAN AND STANLEY. At the turn of the century, the Congo State in Africa was under the colonial rule of the Belgian monarch King Leopold II. In this orgiastic period of Western imperialism, every major power was scrambling for pieces of the newly opened African continent and their careless footsteps tended to leave smaller forces crushed in their wake. This book is an exposé written by the disgruntled Belgian ex district commissioner of the Aruwimi district of the Congo Free State bluntly describing the "scandalous rule" of the Belgian government in the Congo, complete with illustrations of natives submitting to Belgian torture and accounts of their excessive forced labour. One of the chapters is a section by former Congo State Service agent Edgar Canisius entitled "A Campaign Among Cannibals" in which (despite its formidable title) the author takes a sympathetic stand on the natives with further descriptions of their floggings and mistreatment at the hands of the Belgians. This interesting and detailed narrative brings the reader closer to imperialistic realities and injustices, devoid of much Euro-centric glossing. There are a great profusion of Stanley-Hoffman documents in Belgium, the RGS London and the Wellcome Library and in the Africa Museum. Hoffman remained in contact with Stanley for many, many years and was consistently involved with African affairs during his time in Britain. There is an interesting study of the six pygmies from the Congo who were in Britain 1905-1907 and Hoffman was their interpreter for 15 months. He worked for the Force Publique of the Congo Independent State in the 1890s, and was left £300 in Stanley's will (1904). Stanley of course wrote many books on his incursions and discoveries in Africa. He was a significant explorer, one of the first British explorers to open up the vast continent to western travelers and interests. He was a friend and colleague of Livingstone and the discoverer of the Congo and the pioneer who made possible the Congo Free State, and finally an elder statesman active in the affairs of the African continent even into the 20th century. Among his books are: THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT; THE CONGO. FOUNDING OF THE FREE STATE; IN DARKEST AFRICA; MY KALULU; HOW I FOUND LIVINGSTONE; MY EARLY TRAVELS as well as many others.

First American edition, 8vo, pp. xxx, 3-299, [1]; 100 photographic illustrations throughout, many full-page; original decorative green cloth stamped in black and gilt; lightly rubbed, very good. Czech, Africa, p. 29: "A former English army officer, Burrows was hired by the Belgian government as district commander of the Upper Well-Mobanghi region of the Congo.".