BURTON, Sir Richard F. Zanzibar; City, Island, and Coast. London, Tinsley Brothers, 1872.
Two volumes, 8vo. Late 20th-century black buckram, spines lettered in gilt, original gilt illustrations of the publisher's binding pasted inside front covers, as well and gilt-stamped backstrips inside lower covers; pp. xii [2, sectional title], 503; vi + [2 sectional title], 519; 11 wood-engraved plates, one folding map, 4 single-page maps; a few repairs to folds of map, otherwise a very good copy.
First edition. In the opinion of Burton's bibliographer James A. Casada, Zanzibar is "among the most important of [Burton's] African-related studies". The book is based upon notes taken during a fortnight's stay on the island prior to Burton and Speke's expedition to discover the source of the Nile. These notes, posted to the RGS, were not delivered for 8 years. By the time they again reached Burton's hand the Nile expedition had returned, Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria had been discovered and Speke was dead. The delayed publication of Zanzibar therefore gave Burton an opportunity to look back at subsequent events. The final chapters describe the "East African Expedition of 1857-1859" and the concluding chapter, 'Captain Speke', offers Burton's last word on his fellow explorer.
Provenance: A pencil note on the half-title of volume one indicates the this set belonged to Mary S. Lovell the Burton biographer (A Rage to Live, 1998). A second line in pencil underneath adds that the set was owned before by Quentin Keynes, son of the economist, explorer and book collector.
Penzer pp. 88-9; Casada 72.
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