Bruce, Travels To Discover The Source Of The Nile, 1st 1790
Item History & Price
Travels ...; to Discover
The Source of the Nile
By James Bruce
Edinburgh, J. Ruthven, et al. 1790, First edition (published later in London the same year); 5 volumes, Size: large 4to (9 x12 inches), engraved vignette title page in each volume, 58 engraved charts (two missing), 3 engraved folding maps, 7 typographic pages of Ethiopic characters between pp. 400 and 401 of the first volume, and the list of plates at the back of vol. V which is usually lacking.
Original bindings full tree calf. Condition is very good, some light water staining at the top or bottom. very light occassional foxing, but some heavy foxing in vol.5. Please NOTE: two plates in vol.1 of the sail boat are missing. All other plates are present. All maps present, slight tears on two of the maps. overall a very good copy, most pages clean, bright, larger type, very entertaining read.
Bruce arrived in Alexandria in June 1768 committed to discovering the source of the Nile, which he thought began somewhere in Abyssinia. He traveled across the northern desert in the guise of a Turkish sailor and finally reached Abyssinia in early 1770. In November of that year he found the previously unknown source of the Blue Nile, which he claimed (mistakenly) to be the Nile of the ancients, and therefore more important than the larger White Nile. Bruce's difficult return in 1771 was highlighted by another first: he became the first to trace the Blue Nile to its confluence with the White Nile. The last major obstacle was a dangerous trip back into the desert to recover his journals and baggage which had been left behind after his camels died. Though his Travels was criticized by some contemporaries, "the substantial accuracy of every statement concerning his Abyssinian travels has since been amply demonstrated" (Ency. Britannica). Bruce's account is also notable for its famous plate of the figure of a harpist in the tomb of Rameses III, "the first picture of a scene in the royal tombs to be published" (Romer, Valley of the Kings, 36).
