LAING, Alexander Gordon (1794-1826). Travels in...Western Africa. London: John Murray, 1825. FIRST EDITION, HENRY M. STANLEY'S COPY.
8vo (215 x 136 mm). Engraved folding map, 7 aquatint plates. Late 19th-century half red morocco gilt, fore-edges uncut, by Mudie.FIRST EDITION, HENRY M. STANLEY'S COPY. Laing, attached to the Royal Africa Corps, discovered the sources of the Rokel and Niger Rivers. "His Travels, published in 1825, give a lively account of his adventures, including not only observations on the customs of the peoples he encountered, illustrated with his own rather amateurish drawings and a good map, but also an oral history of Solima Yalunka back to the seventeenth century, useful to later historians" (DNB). A FINE ASSOCIATION COPY, bound for Henry M. Stanley.
Provenance: Sir Henry M. Stanley (bookplate and binding, purchased from teh Archive of Henry Morton Stanley, Sotheby's London, 24 Septemer 2002, lot 150).