Beschreibung:

AFRICA] BARTH, HEINRICH. Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa being a Journal of an Expedition undertaken under the auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the years 1849-1855 . London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1857-58. First edition. Five volumes, green calf, marbled edges. 8 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches (21.5 x 13 cm); xxxvi, 578 pp.; xii, 676 pp.; xii, 635, (1) pp.; xiv, 642 pp.; xii, 694, [2] pp.; with 15 folding maps and 60 tinted litho plates. Two boards and several labels detached, internally a clean set; with the bookplates of Sir Robert North Collie Hamilton. Barth's expedition was the most important of the period. Starting with a Saharan crossing, he travelled nearly 12,000 miles in the Sudan, Sahara and western Africa. A linguist, he could read Arabic and speak some African languages, and he was one of the first travellers to develop a scholarly interest in the history and culture of these regions. Abbey Travel 274; Hilmy I, p. 53. C