The Life and Explorations of David Livingstone – 1885 | Africa Travel Biography

David Livingstone was a Scottish medical missionary known for his exploration in South Africa and ministry to local tribes throughout Central and South Africa. Through the mid-19th-century, South Africa was completely unknown to Europeans, so Livingstone’s mission brought light to more than just spreading the gospel. According to Printing and the Mind of Man,

“The geographical results of his journeys were of supreme importance and made it possible to fill in great stretches of the maps of Central Africa which hitherto had been blank”.

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Life and Explorations of David Livingstone, Carefully Compiled from Reliable Sources
• Author(s): David Livingstone
• Contributor(s): John S. Roberts, compiler
• Publisher: London, Walter Scott
• Edition: First edition, 1885
• Format: (4to), single volume
• Binding: Red cloth hardcover, black and gilt front cover
• Size:  10.75in x 8in (27.3 cm x 20.3 cm)
• Collation: viii, 632, [2]
• Illustrations: 12 full-page color engravings; added, engraved title page
• Contents Include:
  • Preface and Editorial Introduction
  • Missionary Reports from Southern Africa
  • Geographic Observations and Journal Notes
  • Encounters with Local Tribes and Customs
  • Summaries from Government Correspondence
• Reference(s): Printing and the Mind of Man 341

Condition:

Very Good. Original red cloth binding remains intact with moderate rubbing at corners and spine ends. Gilt and black stamping on the front board remains sharp. Spine slightly faded. Text block is clean with uniform toning. Binding tight with no loose pages.

Why Collect This?

• Cited by Printing and the Mind of Man for geographic relevance

• Victorian quarto with decorative cloth binding
• First edition by Walter Scott
• Includes all full-page, color engravings

Item Number: # 29111