Africa - Lot 518

Africa DENHAM (Dixon) - CLAPPERTON (Hugh) Narrative of travels and discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the years 1822, 1823, and 1824, by Major Denham, captain Clapperton, and the late Doctor Oudney London, Murray, 1826. In-4; illustrated with 44 plates and maps in and out of text (including one frontispiece and one in color). Disgorgements of the plates mirrored on the text. Contemporary fawn calf, spine ribbed and ornamented, top board detached, boards richly decorated with a cold decoration framed by a large gilt arabesque frieze, 4 diamond-shaped irons in the spandrels, gilt roulette on the corners, marbled edges. This account of the expedition across the Sahara to Bornu provides a wealth of new documents on the interior of Africa. Provenance: Printed bookplate of Abraham Wildey Robarts (1779-1858), English politician and banker. He was at one time a writer for the East India Company in Canton, then became a director of the East India Company. He was also a director of the New Zealand Company. Roberts was considered a slave trader, owning 566 slaves in Jamaica and Dominica, and four lawsuits were brought against him.