“THE FIRST EUROPEAN IN MODERN TIMES TO TRAVERSE THE NORTH-EASTERN SAHARA”
(NORTH AFRICA) (NIGER RIVER) HORNEMAN, Frederick. The Journal of Frederick Horneman's Travels, from Cairo to Mourzouk, the Capital of the Kingdom of Fezzan, in Africa. In the Years 1797-8. London: W. Bulmer and Co. for G. and W. Nicol, 1802. Quarto, period-style three-quarter brown calf gilt, raised bands, red morocco spine label, marbled boards. $2200.
First edition, with two large folding maps depicting Horneman’s routes and his discoveries in North Africa, and one additional full-page map of the territory along the River Julbi.
Horneman, a German, volunteered in 1796 as an explorer to the African Association of London. "The African Association was founded in 1788. Its activities mark the beginning of African exploration in a systematic way… Horneman was one of the unlucky four sent out by the Association to solve the vexatious question of the elusive Niger—where was its source, in what direction did it flow, and where did it empty. He set out from Egypt, reached Murzuk, but ended up in Tripoli. Starting from that country he made another attempt, but died somewhere on the Niger, without being able to inform the world of what he accomplished" (Cox, 388, 398). The leaders of the first four expeditions sent by the Association to solve the Niger question—Horneman, Ledyard, Lucas and Houghton—all met with their demise en route. "Horneman was the first European in modern times to traverse the north-eastern Sahara" (Britannica). Howgego H100.
Marginal paper repair to leaf d1. A fine, clean, wide-margined copy, handsomely bound.