Lot Essay
The first page of the letter has 3 paper hinges attached, used to insert it into the book mentioned above.
Details
JOHN HANNING SPEKE (1827-1864)
A 4-page autograph letter, signed, 8°, from Jordans, Illminster, Somerset, 5 October 1863, to an unidentified correspondent, discussing the resettlement of the bearers who accompanied him on the expedition to Victoria Nyanza between 1860 and 1863.
"My dear Sir, Pray accept my most hearty thanks for the care you took of my 'Faithful Children,'" Speke begins. "I do not understand how the Aden authorities could have managed the transmission of them so badly. Every arrangement was made for them between Mr. Drummond May and myself at Cairo." He expresses his thanks to "those good good Christians who have so generously and nobly aided and amused them at the Mauritius," and explains that "most of the men comprising the (?)L.N. expedition deserted me in the country and for this reason I was the more anxious that these few "Faithfuls" should be well cared for. Doubtless by this time they are safely at home at Zanzibar enjoying I hope their well earned pay, gardens and wives ...." (small stain to blank area of final page).
Together with Speke's Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (Edinburgh and London, 1863, 8°, first edition, very worn and [?] lacking one of 2 maps in rear pocket). (2)
A 4-page autograph letter, signed, 8°, from Jordans, Illminster, Somerset, 5 October 1863, to an unidentified correspondent, discussing the resettlement of the bearers who accompanied him on the expedition to Victoria Nyanza between 1860 and 1863.
"My dear Sir, Pray accept my most hearty thanks for the care you took of my 'Faithful Children,'" Speke begins. "I do not understand how the Aden authorities could have managed the transmission of them so badly. Every arrangement was made for them between Mr. Drummond May and myself at Cairo." He expresses his thanks to "those good good Christians who have so generously and nobly aided and amused them at the Mauritius," and explains that "most of the men comprising the (?)L.N. expedition deserted me in the country and for this reason I was the more anxious that these few "Faithfuls" should be well cared for. Doubtless by this time they are safely at home at Zanzibar enjoying I hope their well earned pay, gardens and wives ...." (small stain to blank area of final page).
Together with Speke's Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (Edinburgh and London, 1863, 8°, first edition, very worn and [?] lacking one of 2 maps in rear pocket). (2)