(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1909).

AN IMPORTANT FIRST EDITION. STANLEY S CLASSIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY. The first nine chapters are from Stanley's own pen, though he died before the autobiography was finished. His wife, Dorothy Stanley, finished the book from his journals and notebooks, and some personal letters he sent to her. "I should like to write out a rough draft, as it were, of my life. The polishing could take care of itself, or you could do it, when the time comes. Were I suddenly to be called away, how little, after all, the world would know of me!...But, granted that I know little of my real self, still, I am the best evidence for myself." - from a letter to his wife. Item #31826

First edition, the American issue. Portrait frontispiece, 16 illustrations from photogravure, and a color folding map at the rear, identical to the English issue of the same year. Tall 8vo, publisher s original red cloth lettered and pictorially decorated in gilt on the spine and upper cover, t.e.g. xvii, 551, 1 page of ads. A very good copy, the text block clean and sound, the cloth is bright and has no fading, some wear to the crown of the spine panel, otherwise just light evidence of shelving or age, the inner hinges a bit shaken.