Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile

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First edition, 1863, VG In modern half calf over marbled boards, some blind tooling. Spine, gilt tooling & titles. Internally, frontis, [5], (vi-xxxi), [1], [1], 2-658 pp, 75 illustrations, 2 maps (1 coloured,1 folding), printed by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, new endpapers, evidence of removed bookplate, ink name to verso of frontis, some occasional light spotting. map dated 1863 with short gutter crease tear, marbled text block edges, faint embossed owners oval stamp to tp. (219*139 mm). After an expedition into eastern Africa in the company of Sir Richard Burton, Speke returned to England to announce his hypothesis that the Nile issued from Lake Victoria Nyanza. His fellow geographers, however, including Burton, were doubtful of his claim. Under the sponsorship of Sir Roderick Murchison, Speke returned to Africa and Lake Victoria Nyanza, this time finding conclusively that the lake was the source of the great river; this work is his published account of that expedition. His claims, however, were still controversial--indeed, he and Burton were to meet and debate the issue, but the day prior to the meeting Speke was killed in a hunting accident.