In Unknown Africa.
A Narrative of Twenty Months Travel and Sport in Unknown Lands and among New Tribes.
London: Hurst and Blackett, Limited, 1904 Stock Code: 119332
First edition, scarce variant binding, other copies noted in blue cloth with the front cover lettered and decorated in black rather than gilt. Following a successful hunting trip in Abyssinia, Powell-Cotton (1866-1940) travelled to British East Africa in 1902 in order to find a specimen of a five-horned giraffe recently discovered by Sir Harry Johnston. He pursued impala, rhinoceros and lion on the Athi River, crossed the Tana and lived among the Kikuyu, successfully hunting elephant, then collecting trophy kudu and lion on the Baringo plain. He eventually found a five-horned giraffe on the outskirts of Masai territory. Reviewing the work in the Geographical Journal, Harry Johnston praised its descriptions and photographs of big game as well noting that "from a geographical point of view also Major Powell-Cotton's journey is a remarkable one. He covered a little new ground north of the explorations made by Macdonald and Austin, and south and west of the journeys of Wellby and Donaldson-Smith".
Description
Octavo. Original dark green cloth, titles and vignettes to spine and front cover gilt, top edge gilt.
Illustrations
2 colour plates of giraffes, approximately 200 half-tone photographs to the text, many full-page, 2 folding maps.
Condition
Slightly rubbed, whitening at the joints, corners mildly bumped, crumpling head and tail of the spine, foxing to edges and prelims, maps spotted and offset, the very occasional spot to text. A very good copy.
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