We were pleased to find these antique lithographs at an estate sale. They are from "Travels and Discoveries of North and Central Africa from the Journal of an Expedition Undertaken under the Auspices of H.B.M.’s Government in the Years 1849-1855" by Henry Barth. This American edition was published in 1860 by J.W. Bradley at 48 North Fourth Street in Philadelphia.
Each hand-colored illustration measures about 8 by 5 inches with image areas of 6 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches and were lithographed by Pilliner in Philadelphia. The scenes are Auderas in 1850; Wadi Wellad Ali in February 1850; a herd of elephants near the Tsad (Lake Chad); Barea on Jan. 9, 1852; the Dendal in Kukawa in April 1851; El Hasi on April 23, 1850; hippopotamuses in a river (location obscured); Henderi Siggesi on Oct. 18, 1851; interior of a Musgu dwelling; Mas-Ena, returning the sultan from the expedition; and a Musgu chief in his village.
Also included is the title page from the volume and a general map of Africa measuring about 8 by 8 inches showing Barth's travels from 1850 to 1855 as well as Livingston's route from 1841 to 1856.
The lithographs show a bit of foxing and some have evidence of very old damp-staining. There are stitch holes in the margins, and some have fraying and bits of glue and paper where the pages were removed from the volume, but the image areas are not affected. (We do not believe in removing plates from books except under unusual circumstances, but these items had been excised before they were offered at the estate sale.) The title page also shows some foxing, but otherwise is in fine shape. The map, which was lithographed by J.H. Camp in Philadelphia, shows minor foxing and handling wear, but otherwise is in nice condition.
Henry (Heinrich) Barth is one of the European superstars of African travel and exploration. Disguised as a Muslim scholar, he spent five years ranging widely and freely over northern, central and western Africa, and returned with much useful information about the region’s culture and economy.
Born in Hamburg on February 16, 1821, and educated at Berlin University, where he graduated in 1844. Barth studied history, archaeology, geography and was fluent in Arabic. He had already visited Italy and Sicily and had formed a plan to journey through the Mediterranean countries. After studying Arabic in London he set out on his travels in 1845. From Tangier he made his way overland throughout the length of North Africa, visiting the sites of the ancient cities of Barbary and Cyrenaica. He also traveled through Egypt, ascending the Nile to Wadi Halfa and crossing the desert to Berenice. While in Egypt he was attacked and wounded by robbers. Crossing the Sinai peninsula he traversed Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Turkey and Greece, everywhere examining the remains of antiquity; and returned to Berlin in 1847. For a time he was engaged there as Privatdocent, and in preparing for publication the narrative of his Wanderungen durch die Kiistenlander des Mittelmeeres, which appeared in 1849.
At the instance of Bunsen and other scientists, Barth and Adolf Overweg, a Prussian astronomer, were appointed colleagues of James Richardson, a British antislavery activist, on a British government-sponsored expedition aimed at establishing commercial contacts and suppressing the slave trade in the area around Lake Chad (today’s Niger, Chad and Nigeria). However, Barth's colleagues succumbed to African conditions and died: Richardson from heat exhaustion and fever in March 1851 and Overweg from malaria in September 1852.
Alone, Barth continued the mission with several Arabs he had hired along the way, including two slaves freed by Overweg. He made one of the most fruitful expeditions ever undertaken in inner Africa. In addition to journeys across the Sahara, Barth traversed the country from Lake Chad and Bagirmi on the east to Timbuktu on the west and Cameroon on the south, making prolonged sojourns in the ancient sultanates or emirates of Bornu, Kano, Nupe, Sokoto and Gando and at Timbuktu. He studied minutely the topography, history, civilizations and resources of the countries he visited. Among Barth’s noteworthy achievements in West Africa was his stay for more than nine months in Timbuktu. He was the first European to use the oral traditions of the local tribes for historical research, learning several African languages and studying the history, resources and civilizations of the people he encountered.
When he returned to London on September 6, 1855, he was warmly received but not formally recognized by the British government for his services.
The story of his travels was published under the title "Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa.'' The five-volume work, published simultaneously in German and English in 1857-1858, remains the most scientific publication of its time on the African cultures he encountered. Beyond their compelling narratives, the volumes present more than a dozen detailed maps and several dozen illuminating illustrations. Their appendices contain tables of meteorological data for his five years of travel, chronologies of history for certain areas, vocabularies, descriptions of routes and lists of towns. For accuracy, interest, variety and extent of information, Barth's "Travels" have few rivals among works of the kind. It is a book that will always rank as a standard authority on the regions in question, of which a great part, under the name of Nigeria, later come under British rule.
Except a C.B., Barth himself received no recognition of his services from the British government. After additional travel in Greece and Turkey, Barth resumed his academic life in Berlin, where he prepared a collection of Central African vocabularies (Gotha, 1862-1866). In 1858 he undertook another journey in Asia Minor, and in 1862 visited Turkey in Europe. In the following year he was appointed professor of geography at Berlin University and president of the Geographical Society. He died in Berlin on November 25, 1865.
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