David Livingstone (1813-1873)

Details
David Livingstone (1813-1873)

Autograph letter signed to an unidentified correspondent ('My dear Sir'), 57 Sloane Street, London, 17 February 1857, 4 pages, 8vo (slight soiling on last page).

Livingstone writes in unusually friendly mode, 'I remember you very well', enquires about mutual friends, declares he has 'no time to spare in England - Am at close work over a book and when that is over will leave for East Africa', and is writing in a brief moment of relaxation, adding 'I wish I were away again'.

Livingstone writes during his much-fted interval in England between the discovery of the Victoria Falls and the Zambesi expedition. The book he refers to is his Missionary Travels (1857); ironically, he ended his connection with the Missionary Society the same year.

[Together with:] Autograph letters by:
Sir Samuel Baker (1821-1893, discoverer of Lake Albert), 2 letters, 1875 & 1890, the latter referring to 'Stanley's reception at the Albert Hall', 5 pages, 8vo and 4to;
Sir John Barrow (1764-1848, promoter of Arctic exploration), to the geographer James MacQueen, Admiralty, 6 April 1821, discussing MacQueen's work on central north Africa and the course of the Niger, and the occupation of Fernando Po as a means of access to 'the most valuable portions of the Continent', 2 pages, 8vo;
Verney Lovett Cameron (1844-1894, leader of expedition to aid Livingstone in 1873), 2 letters
James Augustus Grant (1827-1892, accompanied Speke in 1861-3)
and others including Dorothy Stanley and Livingstone's son Oswell, 10 in total, in an album.

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