MACQUEEN, James. Notes on the Geography of Central Africa, from the Researches of Livingstone, Monteiro, Graça and others. London: The Royal Geographical Society, [1856].

MACQUEEN, James. Notes on the Geography of Central Africa, from the Researches of Livingstone, Monteiro, Graça and others. London: The Royal Geographical Society, [1856].

8° (211 x 135mm). Disbound extract from the R.G.S. Journal, Vol. XXVI, p. 111-130, (upper corner torn from title affecting 5 lines). Provenance: Richard Burton (presentation copy from the author).

THE AUTHOR'S COPY AND FIRST PRINTING, INSCRIBED FIRST TO BURTON, AND THEN ANNOTATED AND CORRECTED BY BURTON AND THE AUTHOR who adds, 'The rest will be sent to you as soon as it arrives from the printers.' With Burton's ms. corrections and notes throughout, some trimmed at fore-edge. With a note on last leaf, 'Aug. 29/56. Please return this with corrections [to] Dr. Shaw as early as you can.' Lovell's biography reports that as far back as 1853 Burton had been openly stating the foundations of his convictions about the Great Central African lake region and probable source of the Nile. This annotated article shows he and MacQueen had a high regard for each others' work long before their joint 'Nile Basin' in 1864. MacQueen had published on the Upper Niger in 1821, a map of Central Africa in 1840, and a preface to Krapf's Journal of Central Africa in 1843 before he became an outspoken critic of Speke. He read this paper on the source of the Nile before the R.G.S. on December 10, 1855 and sent it to Burton for comments and corrections before the 1857-1859 expedition.