AN EXCELLENT ASSOCIATION COPY: AFRICAN EXPLORER JAMES BRUCE’S COPY OF PATERSON’S NARRATIVE OF EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1789 FIRST EDITION, WITH ENGRAVINGS AND A LARGE FOLDING MAP, A STUNNING COPY

(BRUCE, James) (SOUTH AFRICA) PATERSON, William. A Narrative of Four Journeys in to the Country of the Hottentots and Caffraria in the Years One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-Seven, Eight, and Nine. London: J. Johnson, 1789. Quarto, contemporary full tree calf, raised bands, red morocco spine label.

First edition of this fascinating South African travel narrative, with 17 copper engravings of plants, animals (including a giraffe), people, and views, as well as a large folding map of the southern cape of Africa, handsomely bound in contemporary tree calf. An excellent association copy: from the library of renowned African explorer James Bruce—discoverer of the source of the Blue Nile, “the last of the great 18th-century travelers in Egypt”—with his engraved Kinnaird bookplate.

Though William Paterson went on to distinguish himself with a respectable military career and the lieutenant governorship of New South Wales, he began his life as an avid naturalist. His inclination toward natural history primarily manifested itself as a passion for botany which was allowed expression through the patronage of Lady Strathmore. When Paterson was barely 20, she paid for him to make a series of four expeditions to Africa, including the land belonging to the Hottentots, that belonging to the Kaffirs (Caffraria), and Capetown. There, he made a number of scientific discoveries and even brought back the first giraffe skin England had ever seen. His fascinating experiences are expertly chronicled in this work.

In 1770, after arduous journeys through Egypt and Abyssinia, James Bruce found the previously unknown source of the Blue Nile. His difficult return in 1771 marked another first: he became the first person to trace the Blue Nile to its confluence with the White. His famous five-volume Travels is “one of the most splendid narratives in the literature of African travel” (Hallet, Africa to 1875). He did not publish his account, however, until 1790, the year after publication of the present work. Gap in pagination between vi and ix, as issued. Howgego, 28. Mendelsohn II:143-144. Bruce’s engraved armorial bookplate, with later label “From Kinnaird 1897.”

Text, plates and maps clean and fine. A lovely and desirable association copy in fine contemporary tree calf.