2 volumes, 8vo (202 x 131 mm). Half-title in vol. I, 2 engraved plates. (Lacking half-title in vol. II, slight soiling and spotting, a few leaves roughly opened.) 20th-century half brown morocco gilt, uncut. Provenance: a few pencil annotations.

FIRST EDITION, with p.181 in vol. II misnumbered 381. One of Burton’s best known and most sensational books, A Mission to Gelele is recounts his last major expedition in West Africa and his experiences as the HBM Consul to Dahome while based on Fernando Po, including reports of eunuchs, human sacrifices, male and female circumcision, polygamy, and slavery. Burton traveled to Dahome to establish trade relationships, protest its participation in the slave trade, and investigate accusations of human sacrifice, though he disagreed with local leaders. “It had been a frustrating, disappointing, unsuccessful trip, and psychologically the king had been Burton’s master… Only Burton’s magnificent two-volume work on his efforts served to offset his disappointments” (Rice). Penzer, pp. 72-73; Rice, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, p.487; Spink 31.