SAHARA DESERT TRAVEL TRIBAL WEST EQUATORIAL AFRICA AFRICAN IDOL BIG GAME HUNTING

This auction is for an original 1871 edition of "MY APINGI KINGDOM: WITH LIFE IN THE GREAT SAHARA AND SKETCHES OF THE CHASE OF THE OSTRICH, HYENA, ETC." by Paul Du Chaillu, published by Harper & Brothers Publishers of New York.

This is by an early explorer of equatorial Africa. The author traveled hundreds of miles into the interior of Africa and has become "king" of an Apingi village. He continues his explorations and adventures until he runs so low on supplies he is obliged to return to the coast. The second part of the book recounts his voyage to Senegal and explorations of the Sahara.

 The country is filled with people of different customs and superstitions, surrounded by immense forests, mountainous regions, with a large river flowing through this beautiful country. This is a semi - autobiographical account of what Mr. Du Chaillu did there in his kingdom and a journey to the great Desert, concluding with a cruise along the western coast of Africa.

　Paul Belloni du Chaillu (July 31, 1831 (disputed) – April 29, 1903) was a French-American traveler and anthropologist. He became famous in the 1860's as the first modern outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas, and later the Pygmy people of central Africa. He later researched the prehistory of Scandinavia.

Paul was sent in 1855 by the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia on an African expedition. Until 1859, he explored the regions of West Africa in the neighborhood of the equator, gaining considerable knowledge of the delta of the Ogooué River and the estuary of the Gabon. During his travels from 1856 to 1859, he observed numerous gorillas, known to non-locals in prior centuries only from an unreliable report by Hanno the Navigator of Carthage in the 5th century BC and known to scientists in the preceding years only by a few skeletons. He brought back dead specimens and presented himself as the first white person to have seen them.

A subsequent expedition, from 1863 to 1865, enabled him to confirm the accounts given by the ancients of a pygmy people inhabiting the African forests. Du Chaillu sold his hunted gorillas to the Natural History Museum in London and his "cannibal skulls" to other European collections. (A fine cased group shot by du Chaillu may be seen in Ipswich Museum in Suffolk, England.)

Narratives of both expeditions were published, in 1861 and 1867 respectively, under the titles Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa, with Accounts of the Manners and Customs of the People, and of the Chace of the Gorilla, Crocodile, and other Animals; and A Journey to Ashango-land, and further penetration into Equatorial Africa. While in Ashango Land in 1865, he was elected King of the Apingi tribe. After some years' residence in America, during which he wrote several books for the young based on his African adventures, du Chaillu turned his attention to northern Europe.

Published in 1871, this book is in GOOD CONDITION for its age; especially to be 142 YEARS OLD! The hinges are in good order. There is a libris paste down from a previous owner. A "stamped" number can be found on the title page, as evidenced on the enclosed photos below. The interior is, overall, neat and clean with a few blemishes. The text block remains unmarked and clear for enjoyable reading. There are a total of 254 pages in this  5 1/4" X 7 1/2" volume. The ILLUSTRATIONS that accommodate the text are numerous engravings that contribute nicely to the text.  The cover offers its original cloth with beautiful gilt embellishments such as title and pictorials on both the spine and cover. There is some cloth wear to the corner boards.  This item is being offered with NO RESERVE. GET IT WHILE YOU CAN!!!

GOOD LUCK!!!　

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