The Abyssinian Expedition and the Life and Reign of King Theodore

Description:

With one hundred illustrations engraved from originals by special artists and correspondents of the Illustrated London News . Roger Curtis Acton (1827-1906) was a British journalist, and early member of the Royal Colonial Institute (later the Royal Empire Society). In this work he provides a narrative history of the somewhat forgotten British Abyssinian expedition of 1868, and the life and reign of Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia (then often referred to by his anglicised name, Theodore). The British Expedition to Abyssinia was a rescue mission and punitive expedition carried out against the Ethiopian Empire. Emperor Tewodros had imprisoned several missionaries and two representatives of the British government in an attempt to force the British government to comply with his requests for military assistance. The punitive expedition launched by the British in response required the transportation of a sizable military force hundreds of miles across mountainous terrain lacking any road system. The formidable obstacles to the action were overcome by the commander of the expedition, General Sir Robert Napier, who was victorious in every battle against the troops of Tewodros, captured the Ethiopian capital, and rescued all the hostages. Emperor Tewodros committed suicide with a pistol, which was originally a gift from Queen Victoria, as the British forces stormed the fortress of Magdala.The expedition was widely hailed on its return to England for achieving all its objectives.

The historian Harold G. Marcus described this action as 'one of the most expensive affairs of honour in history'. (The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia, 1844-1913. 1995.

Condition

Fo. (450x320mm), orig. pictorial, red cloth boards, blind-stamped decorative border, with gilt-blocked illustration of an expedition elephant carrying canon to front board, bevelled edges, aeg, recased and recently rebacked in matching cloth, gt title to spine, new endpapers. Small, faint marginal stain to upper, inner corner of final fourteen pages. Cont. gift inscription to flyleaf. A very good copy.