Ismailia. A Narrative of The Expedition to Central Africa for the Suppression of the Slave Trade. Organized by Ismail, Khedive of Egypt -
Sir Samuel W. Baker, Pacha
1874 - Macmillan And Co., London - First Edition
A near fine two-volume first edition by one of the great explorers of the era, in which Sir Samuel White Baker describes leading a military expedition beginning in 1869 to annex the lawless upper Nile, suppress its barbaric slave trade, establish trade routes and open up navigation on the Great Lakes for the cotton trade.
Profusely illustrated with fifty two full-page plates and two maps in colour, one folding.
Tasked with the assignment by the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt at a ball in Cairo, Baker was given four years, the rank of major-general, and the title of pasha – the most senior positions ever given to a European under an Egyptian administration. The books begin in the same way as the expedition: with the commission of four boats, including a 251-ton paddle steamer that were shipped from England, and with hundreds of camels and an additional nine steamers and 55 sailing boats in Egypt.
In Baker’s view the slave trade led to ‘treachery, devastation and ruin.’ ‘It is impossible to know the actual number of slaves taken from Central Africa annually; but I should imagine that at least fifty thousand…the loss of life attendant upon the capture and subsequent treatment of the slaves is frightful.’ The expedition began with an army of 1700 men working its way up the Nile in relays but quickly lost hundreds to malaria and dysentery when it became stuck in the Sudd. By its end, Baker had proclaimed a new province of Equatoria. Throughout the entire journey Baker was accompanied by his wife, an orphaned Hungarian refugee he stole from a slave auction in Bulgaria.
The Prince of Wales was so impressed by Baker’s efforts, he met Baker on his return to England to hear of his experiences first-hand.
Baker was the son of a West India company merchant, ship owner and director of a bank and railway. He was also dispatched by the Royal Geographic Society to take over the search for – and eventually rendezvous with – Speke and Grant, who had gone searching for the source of the Nile. Baker’s career also took him to Mauritius, Ceylon, the Balkans, south east Europe and Turkey.
Provenance: Captain William Harrison with his armourial book plate in each volume [Memor et Fidelis].
References: Howgego, Encyclopedia of Exploration 1850 to 1940 Continental Exploration. Cambridge University Press.
Two large quarto volumes (book size 23x16cm), pp. viii 447 [1] 55 (publisher’s catalogue dated October 1874) [1]; viii 588. In publisher’s green cloth, spines lettered and illustrated in gilt, upper boards with gilt borders enclosing gilt vignette of a camel train, brown coated endpapers. Condition: Near fine, light spotting to pages, minor wear to cloth corners and spine ends. Ref: 111884 Price: HK$ 11,000
Profusely illustrated with fifty two full-page plates and two maps in colour, one folding.
Tasked with the assignment by the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt at a ball in Cairo, Baker was given four years, the rank of major-general, and the title of pasha – the most senior positions ever given to a European under an Egyptian administration. The books begin in the same way as the expedition: with the commission of four boats, including a 251-ton paddle steamer that were shipped from England, and with hundreds of camels and an additional nine steamers and 55 sailing boats in Egypt.
In Baker’s view the slave trade led to ‘treachery, devastation and ruin.’ ‘It is impossible to know the actual number of slaves taken from Central Africa annually; but I should imagine that at least fifty thousand…the loss of life attendant upon the capture and subsequent treatment of the slaves is frightful.’ The expedition began with an army of 1700 men working its way up the Nile in relays but quickly lost hundreds to malaria and dysentery when it became stuck in the Sudd. By its end, Baker had proclaimed a new province of Equatoria. Throughout the entire journey Baker was accompanied by his wife, an orphaned Hungarian refugee he stole from a slave auction in Bulgaria.
The Prince of Wales was so impressed by Baker’s efforts, he met Baker on his return to England to hear of his experiences first-hand.
Baker was the son of a West India company merchant, ship owner and director of a bank and railway. He was also dispatched by the Royal Geographic Society to take over the search for – and eventually rendezvous with – Speke and Grant, who had gone searching for the source of the Nile. Baker’s career also took him to Mauritius, Ceylon, the Balkans, south east Europe and Turkey.
Provenance: Captain William Harrison with his armourial book plate in each volume [Memor et Fidelis].
References: Howgego, Encyclopedia of Exploration 1850 to 1940 Continental Exploration. Cambridge University Press.
Two large quarto volumes (book size 23x16cm), pp. viii 447 [1] 55 (publisher’s catalogue dated October 1874) [1]; viii 588. In publisher’s green cloth, spines lettered and illustrated in gilt, upper boards with gilt borders enclosing gilt vignette of a camel train, brown coated endpapers. Condition: Near fine, light spotting to pages, minor wear to cloth corners and spine ends. Ref: 111884 Price: HK$ 11,000