Account of the Life and Writings of James Bruce, of Kinnaird, author of Travels to Discover The Source of The Nile in the ears 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 & 1773

Alexander Murray

Published by Constable and Company, and Manners and Miller, 1808

About this Item

1808. Hardcover. First edition. contemporary half calf with marbled boards, spine in six compartments of raised bands, brown morocco label on two, Of the 22 plates including the frontispiece and tw folding maps, this copy lacks three plates and one of the folding maps.The plates depict plants, animals and some persons such as 'Kefta Abay, high priest of the Nile'. Collation xiii, 504pp. quarto. A biography of the Scottish traveller James Bruce by the classical scholar and linguist Alexander Murray. Bruce traveelled in North Africa and the Near East and his goal was to reach Ethiopia and find the springs which were said to be the ssosurce of the Nile. He began his journey in Egypt in 1768, navigating the Red Sea to Jiddah, landing in Arabia and Massawa. His party set out from Gondar to the Ethiopian Highlands, eventually reaching Lake Tara and Gish Abay, sourcee of the Blue NIle in 1770.From Gondar he began the arduous 1,200 mile trek through the Sudanese desert back to Cairo. When he returned to Britain, his incredible accounts were met by scepticism concerning the truth of Bruce's calims".He published his "Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile" to support his account of his travels. The book was a success, but doubts lingered and Bruce was for a time deemed a travel fraud. . . . . Seller Inventory # KTK0099906

Bibliographic Details

Title: Account of the Life and Writings of James ...

Publisher: Constable and Company, and Manners and Miller

Publication Date: 1808

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st Edition