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Stanley’s Wonderful Adventures in Africa!

St. Louis & Philadelphia: Scammell & Co., [ca. 1889]. Broadsheet, 21.75” x 15.5.” 10 b&w wood engraved illus. CONDITION: Very good, Japanese tissue repairs to a few minor losses at edges, a few small perforations.

An illustration-rich broadsheet promoting a new book on Henry Morton Stanley’s explorations of Africa, published around the time of the conclusion of the infamous Emin Pasha Relief Expedition.

Featuring a number of lively illustrations, this publisher’s advertisement is a testament to the fervor surrounding African exploration that gripped the Anglophone world in the late 19th century. It advertises Stanley’s Wonderful Adventures in Africa (1889), written by historian and journalist Joel T. Headley and Willis Fletcher Johnson. The book is described here as the “complete history of Stanley’s marvellous explorations in Africa, including a Sketch of his Life, an account of his Expedition in Search of Livingstone, and a full and graphic History of his crowning Triumph, Across Africa from Sea to Sea,” as well as a description of his “heroic endurance during his search for Emin Bey.” Stanley’s exploits are touted as “the most daring and exciting of modern times.” They include solving “the great mystery of the past five thousand years,” (confirming the source of the Nile to be Lake Victoria), and completing one of the first coast-to-coast expeditions across the continent. 

Ten illustrations, created by several different artists, depict sensational scenes from Stanley’s three main African expeditions, including “Scaling the Rapids,” “Landing a Crocodile,” and “Boat Fight with the Savages,” along with portraits of Stanley and “Emin Bey.” The latter, more commonly known as Emin Pasha, was the German-Egyptian governor of the province of Equatoria whom Stanley attempted to rescue from 1887–90. The images reflect Stanley’s own tendency to exaggerate the violence of the native peoples he encountered, here portraying “desperate conflicts with human demons who delighted in craft, treachery, and cruelty…” This contrasts markedly with the professed beauty and bounty of the African continent, a land “rich in ivory, minerals and fruit, where ‘every prospect pleases and only man is vile.’” While depicting Stanley as an intrepid explorer, the illustrations mask the high death toll and atrocities perpetrated by members of his party—particularly during the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition—that would be revealed later by surviving participants. 

Stanley’s Wonderful Adventures in Africa is further described as having a “full and concise account of the explorations of Sir Samuel Baker and Lieut. [Verney] Cameron,” two likewise important figures in the exploration of interior Africa. Also touted are its numerous illustrations “mostly full page, from splendid designs, and elegantly engraved.” A price list, hiring notice, and publisher contact information appear at the foot of the verso. 

Henry Morton Stanley (1841–1904) was a Welsh-born American journalist and explorer who gained considerable fame from his expeditions to the poorly-mapped interior of Africa. His first, in 1871–72, was successful in locating missionary David Livingstone. In 1874–77, he completed his first trans-Africa expedition, exploring the Great Lakes and the Congo River. He subsequently returned to the Congo in the early 1880s and played a key role in laying the groundwork for the establishment of the Congo Free State. His last African expedition was the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1887–90, in which Stanley traveled up the Congo and through the Ituri Rainforest with the ostensible goal of “rescuing” Emin Pasha after the province of Equatoria had become cut off from the outside world during the Mahdist War in Sudan. Emin, in fact, did not wish to be rescued, but eventually agreed to abandon his territory and leave with Stanley, who was given a hero’s welcome in Europe. However, surviving members of the party revealed harrowing details about the loss of life and atrocities committed against native peoples. These later revelations, combined with evidence of ulterior motivations to enable British and Belgian colonization, undercut the humanitarian claims of the expedition.

Scammell & Co. (est. 1868) was a late-nineteenth century publisher with offices in St. Louis and Philadelphia. The firm published popular histories, religious books, and other works for a general audience. 

OCLC records no holdings.

A captivating broadsheet advertisement for the “definitive” book on Henry Morton Stanley’s various African expeditions.  

REFERENCES: “Henry Morton Stanley, 1841–1904” at Princeton University Library online. 

Item #10635

Price: $1,500.00

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