Uganda Oneill Thomas (1 results)
Published by Church Missionary House, London, 1878
- First Edition
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA
Contact seller5-star sellerFirst Edition. First printing. Quarto (28.5cm). Tan paper wrappers printed in red and green; 15,[1]pp; one page of publisher's ads at rear; 19 color lithographic plates on 10 leaves, relief map, one additional in-text wood engraving. Presentation inscription to front: "Presented to Brodie of Brodie by J. A. Grant 15 Oct 78." Sli…ghtly rubbed with minor external dustsoil, sewing perished but complete and neat, with occasional interior toning, else a well-preserved copy: Very Good. Ephemeral color plate book on East Africa, inscribed for presentation by a major explorer of the Nile. An account of the 1877 Church Missionary Society expedition to what is now Uganda, taken from the journal and drawings of a member of the expedition. In late 1876, explorer Henry Morton Stanley sent word to the UK that King Muteesa I of Buganda would be willing to receive Christian missionaries. The Church Missionary Society immediately organized a mission expedition. Eight men (including Thomas O'Neill, a young architect) set out from Zanzibar in 1877, under the leadership of Alexander Murdoch Mackay. Within two years, four of the eight men had died. O'Neill and another man were killed when they involved themselves in a dispute between King Lkonge of Ukerewe Island and an Arab traveller. Mackay alone reached Muteesa I. Though the mission expedition had not prospered, the Church Missionary Society persisted. It published this account of its progress, based on O'Neill's journals and sketches, to draw attention and raise further funds for its efforts. This copy was presented to a Scottish laird (Hugh Fife Ashley Brodie, 23rd of Brodie) by his neighbor, famed explorer James Augustus Grant (1827-1892). Grant, with John Hanning Speke, had led the 1860-63 expedition that traced the Nile River to its source at Lake Victoria, and he had met King Muteesa I personally. When he later retired to Nairn, he "became one of a small group of people influential in matters to do with Africa," and advised the Church Missionary Society on its activities (ODNB). An uncommon title. We trace five copies in the trade since the 1940s, only two of which were in the original paper wrappers. Not in Howgego, though he does discuss the Mackay expedition. HILMY II p.80.
