NARRATIVE OF TRAVELS AND DISCOVERIES IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA in the years 1822, 1823, and 1824...Extending Across the Great Desert...and From Kouka in Bornou, to Sackatoo, the Capital of the Fellatah Empire.
(London: John Murray, 1826).
SCARCE AND IMPORTANT WORK. Denham and Clapperton, in the company of Dr. Walter Oudney, traveled from Benioleed, near Tripoli, almost due south to Lake Tchad, with excursions into the mountains west of Mourzuk in Fezzan. Dixon attempted to follow the circuit around Lake Tchad but was unsuccessful. In the meantime, Clapperton and Oudney journeyed west from the lake toward the Niger River, but the doctor only made it about a third of the way and died in Murmur. Clapperton continued west, but was prevented from passing beyond Sackatoo by the local Sultan. He and Denham subsequently returned to Tripoli and crossed back to England.
This narrative is compiled primarily from Denham's journal, with a chapter by Dr. Oudney on the excursion to the mountains west of Mourzuk. A final section by Clapperton relates the westward journey from Lake Tchad to Sackatoo and includes an account of Oudney's death. Among the several appendices are translations from the Arabic of various letters and documents brought back by Denham and Clapperton, including a document relating to the death of Mungo Park; a translation from the Arabic of a geographical and historical account of the Kingdom of Tak-roor, from a larger work composed by Sultan Mohammed Bello of Hausa; vocabularies of Bornou, Begharmi, Mandara, and Timbuctoo; appendices on the zoology and botany of the regions based on samples collected by Dr. Oudney; a note on rock specimens; and a thermometrical journal kept at Kouka in Bornou.
The engravings, after drawings by Denham and Clapperton, are superbly engraved by Edward Finden, one of the finest steel-engravers in England at the time. Item #21943
2 volumes. First Octavo Edition and Second edition overall. With three folding maps including a a very large folding map at the end of Vol. I, one hand-colored engraved view, and 12 other engraved plates by Finden, and with a number of illustrations in the text. 8vo, three quarter calf over marbled boards, gilt lettering to the spines. lxxxviii, 321 pp; iv, 413 pp. A handsome and well preserved copy, light age evidence, the plates and text-blocks in good order and with some occasional notes in pencil by a learned reader.