Voyage au Congo et dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique équinoxiale, fait dans les années 1828, 1829 et 1830 [...].

3 parts in 1 vol., 12mo: 281, 282, 282 pp. (occ. foxing and browning).

Mod. quarter sheepskin, gauffered boards (joint splitted).

Edition of the same year as the original ed. describing the Congo and the deep interior of Angola. Douville (1794-1837), French traveller and explorer, would be the first European to enter that far into the Congo river basin. Back in France in 1831, his account was welcomed and the "Société de Géographie" of Paris assigned him the Great Gold Medal, and appointed him Secretary for the year 1832. Very soon, however, doubts appeared about the veracity of its story. While it is true that there are curious uncertainties about Douville's biography and inaccuracies in his account, his observations were confirmed by Sir Richard Burton himself, and much later, by Anne Stamm who scrupulously studied Douville's account. Douville's ethnographic observations are excellent, especially with regard to the political description of African kingdoms and tribes. Douville, also driven by commercial goals, was seeking to buy slaves at a low price. His account therefore often talks about the slave trade, the price of slaves, transport etc.
Ref. A. Stamm, "Jean-Baptiste Douville : Voyage au Congo (1827-1830)", in "Cahiers d'études africaines", 1970/37, pp. 5-39 (online). - Not in Chadenat.
Prov. George Treherne Thomas (bookpl.).