Thomson (Joseph). Through Masai Land, 1st edition, London: Sampson Low & Co, 1885

Thomson (Joseph). Through Masai Land: A Journey of Exploration Among the Snowclad Volcanic Mountains and Strange Tribes of Eastern Equatorial Africa. Being the Narrative of the Royal Geographical Society's Expedition to Mount Kenia and Lake Victoria Nyanza, 1883-1884, 1st edition, London: Sampson Low & Co, 1885, half-title, 2 folding coloured lithographed maps (one geological), 15 wood-engraved plates, some preliminary text leaves with marginal loss (not affecting text), bookseller's ticket to front pastedown, one plate loose, small ownership inscription to front blank, original publisher's green pictorial cloth gilt, professionally rebacked (with original spine completely preserved), slightly rubbed & bumped, 8vo

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"One of the great African travel epics" (Czech).

A cornerstone of 19th-century African exploration, the first edition in the original cloth rarely found. His motto "He who goes gently, goes safely, he who goes safely, goes far" emphasises his approach to travel. The work contains much on natural history, a passage in the work describes his experience of being gored by a buffalo. Thomson began in Mombasa and travelled through British East Africa. Thomson's Gazelles & Thomson's Falls are named after him. The work served as the inspiration for Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines.

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