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BRUCE, James, & Alexander Murray.
Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile,
In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. in Five Volumes. [with] Account of the Life and Writings of James Bruce, Author of Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile.
Publisher: Edinburgh: Printed by J. Ruthven for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, [and] printed by George Ramsay and Company for Edinburgh, Archibald Constable and Company; and Manners and Miller; London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1790 [and] 1808
Stock code: 50375
Price: £7,500 Currency Conversion
First editions. Bruce's "long and energetic narrative … remains one of the great travel accounts of the eighteenth century" (ODNB). James Bruce of Kinnaird (1730-1794) was only the second European to visit the isolated mountain kingdom of Abyssinia since the 1630s, and his fame on his return rivalled that of Captain Cook and Joseph Banks, recently returned from the Pacific. But in London "his stories were regarded as being too fabulous to be true, and he found himself ridiculed by society, especially by Samuel Johnson who had translated the narrative of Jeronimo Lobo. A 1792 edition of Baron Munchausen was dedicated to him." (Howgego). A sceptical public had to wait sixteen years while William Logan and later Benjamin Latrobe edited Bruce's chaotic notes and journals. "In conformity with 18th-century conventions of travel writing, it is an 'immethodical miscellany', ranging from striking adventure stories, reported dialogues, and Shandean asides boasting of his success with African women, through a pedantic history of ancient Ethiopia (which occupies most of the first two volumes), to vivid sketches of contemporary Abyssinian life, politics, and natural history. It was immensely successful, most of the original edition being sold to retail booksellers within thirty-two hours, and was rapidly translated into French and German" (ODNB). Charles Lamb gives some idea of the enthusiasm with which they were received in a letter of the time; "We just read thro' Bruce's Travels, with infinite delight where all is alive & novel & about kings & Queens & fabulous Heads of Rivers Abyssinian wars & the line of Solomon & he's a fine dashing fellow & intrigues with Empresses & gets into Harems of Black Women & was himself descended from Kings of Scotland: rot farmers & mechanics & industry." The excellent plates, which are chiefly bound into the fifth volume, the Appendix, separately titled "Select Specimens of Natural History, collected in Travels to discover the Source of the Nile, in Egypt, Arabia, Abyssinia, and Nubia", were based on the drawings of Bruce and his companion Luigi Balugani, and superbly engraved by Heath. The Rev. Alexander Murray, the author of the Life, an eminent oriental scholar, had also been responsible for the editing of the second and third editions of the Travels. His "painstaking examination of Bruce's papers established a more reliable text of his travels and [his] biography of Bruce is an important contemporary source."
6 volumes, quarto (285 × 230 mm). 19th-century tree calf, brown and green labels, spines gilt in compartments, attractive gilt panelling to the boards, Northern Light Board device gilt to heads of spines, edges stained yellow. Portrait frontispiece to The Life, 5 folding maps of which 2 are laid down on linen, 77 engraved plates and plans, 4 leaves of Ethiopian dialects in volume 1, half-titles, titles with engraved vignettes. Boards lightly rubbed, spines a touch sunned. Occasional light spotting and offsetting, repaired tear to title page of volume I, slight spot to p. 453 in volume III, a few plates with very slight dampstain, nonetheless a very handsome set.
