My Dark Companions and Their Strange Stories
- Hardcover
- New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1893
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1893. Hardcover. Very Good. Hardcover. First American edition of this stirring collection of famed explorer Henry Stanley's stories that he gathered around campfires from his companions in exploring Africa. Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841 – 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician famous for his exploration of Central Africa and search for missionary and explorer David Livingstone. Besides his discovery of Livingstone, he is mainly known for his search for the sources of the Nile and Congo rivers, the work he undertook as an agent of King Leopold II of the Belgians that enabled the occupation of the Congo Basin region, and his command of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. More than a century after his death, Stanley's legacy remains the subject of enduring controversy. Although he personally had high regard for many of the native African people who accompanied him on his expeditions, the exaggerated accounts of corporal punishment and brutality in his books fostered a public reputation as a hard-driving, cruel leader in contrast to the supposedly more humanitarian Livingstone. His contemporary image in Britain also suffered from the perception that he was American. In the 20th century, his reputation was also seriously damaged by his role in establishing the Congo Free State for King Leopold II. Nevertheless, he is recognized for his important contributions to Western knowledge of the geography of Central Africa and for his resolute opposition to the slave trade in East Africa.[Wikipedia]
The book compiles 19 stories that mainly involve animals. There are almost 50 full page and text illustrations. Bound in green cloth with gilt titling to front cover and spine. The cover has an illustration of a lion in fierce battle with a large snake. The spine has an illustration of an ape climbing a tree. The binding is spotted and bumped, and there is a small gouge along the bottom of the spine along the rear cover. Interior pages are clean and quite legible. There is a small bookseller label on the front free endpaper from W.B. Clarke & Co. Ownership signature of Alfred M. Walton on free endpaper. A nice copy in very good condition. Measures 8.25 x 5.5 inches. 319 pages plus 12 pages of ads for the publisher's books for young readers. TRAV/092425.
The book compiles 19 stories that mainly involve animals. There are almost 50 full page and text illustrations. Bound in green cloth with gilt titling to front cover and spine. The cover has an illustration of a lion in fierce battle with a large snake. The spine has an illustration of an ape climbing a tree. The binding is spotted and bumped, and there is a small gouge along the bottom of the spine along the rear cover. Interior pages are clean and quite legible. There is a small bookseller label on the front free endpaper from W.B. Clarke & Co. Ownership signature of Alfred M. Walton on free endpaper. A nice copy in very good condition. Measures 8.25 x 5.5 inches. 319 pages plus 12 pages of ads for the publisher's books for young readers. TRAV/092425.