Clapperton Commander (2 results)

Original full leather, backstrip gone, boards detached. Internally very good, with very minor scattered soiling. xxiv, 422, 2 pp., folding map of Clapperton's route, plan of the course of the Kowara or Quarra. Quite scarce with the two pages of ads at the back. A narrative of an attempt to determine the source and direction of the Niger River in western Africa. Clapperton, who participated in an earlier journey in this area under the leadership of Denham, on this second expedition journeyed in part with his personal servant, Richard Lander, who later went on to solve the mystery of the Niger. On this expedition, Clapperton died in Sokoto, after he had determined the circumstances of Mungo Park's death in Bussa. Gay 337. Work 20, American Imprints 38187.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. First American edition. 8vo. [4] (pages of publisher's advertisements), [5], vi-xxiv, [1], 26-422, [2] (pages of publisher's advertisements), [2] pp. Half recent buckram over marbled boards with a later nineteenth-century purple morocco label lettered in gilt on the spine. With both the original endpapers and with more recent endpapers, recent pastedowns. With a fold-out map of the route, chiefly laid down from actual observations for latitude and longitude. Also illustrated with an in-text diagram and one plate. Howgego C34. An expedition to chart the Niger River, with the added purpose of suppressing the Saharan slave trade. One by one the members of the expedition died from fevers and tropical diseases. Only Richard Lemon Lander, Clapperton's valet, survived and would go on to bring Clapperton's journal home for publication. An in-depth volume on the course of the Niger river, with historical descriptions of what is now Nigeria, with a brief Yoruba vocabulary in the appendix. A few tape ghosts on the map, leaves show foxing and a very occasional damp spot. The modern binding is Fine.