Travels in West Africa: Congo, Corisco and Cameroons

Description:

First edition, third thousand. Mary Henrietta Kingsley (1862-1900), London-born traveller to Africa, one of the most celebrated of all women travellers and travel writers. The present work was Kingsley's first book reflecting her own eclectic interests, as a collection of 'facts, good healthy facts … all hopelessly adrift and mixed up pretty nearly as much as the cargo in a palm oil trader - missionary intelligence entangled in the Lippoums Genera of beetles - trade statistics with the habits of fish' (letter to George Macmillan, 18 Dec 1894, Macmillan MSS). Mary Kingsley's lone travels, her sympathy for African societies, and her unorthodox views suggest a woman with radical opinions on both race and gender. The Mary Kingsley medal of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine was founded in her honour. (ODNB).

Condition

Large 8vo, orig. cloth, some rubbing and light wear to extremities, corners a little bumped. Owners' names to half-title; occasional light foxing.