‎MUNGO PARK ‎
‎Travels in the Interior of Africa, in the Years 1795, 1796, & 1797, by Mungo Park. Abridged from the Original Work. ‎

‎London, printed by J.W. Myers for Crosby and Letterman, 1799, 8° (23x14cm), IX-218-2ff. (catalogue), « reliure d’attente », first board almost detached. Illustrated with one frontispice et one plate, from the library of Lord Walsingham with his engraved ex-libris. ‎

Reference : PHO-1943

‎Rare abridged and illustrated edition of the celebrated account by Mungo Park, the Scottish explorer commissioned by the African Association to trace the course of the Niger River and reach the legendary city of Timbuktu—then still closed to Europeans. Published the same year as the original two-volume edition (1799), this concise version made Park’s observations more accessible to a broader readership while preserving the essential elements of his journey: ethnographic notes, vivid travel anecdotes, and valuable geographical insights. Park crossed present-day Senegal, explored the interior kingdoms of West Africa, and reached the Niger River at Ségou. His narrative was among the first to offer a detailed and direct European account of sub-Saharan African cultures and landscapes, and it laid the groundwork for 19th-century African exploration. This edition is notably scarce, unlike the standard two-volume original, few copies of this abridged version were printed, and even fewer have survived with both the frontispiece and an additional engraved plate. Rarely encountered in institutional holdings and even more uncommon on the market, this is a highly desirable copy for collectors of early African exploration. M1-Et2 ‎