Ismalia, A Narrative of the Expedition to Central Africa for the Suppression of the Slave Trade, Organized by Ismail, Khedive of Egypt
New York: Harper and Brothers, 1875.
First American Edition. Hardcover. Good+. 542 pp, indexed, with 2 colored maps (one folding) and more than 40 full-page engravings by Zwecker and Durand. The folding map is laid in and has repairs to the back, but no loss. Original gilt-decorated cloth, corners rubbed, spine sunned, bookplate of Warren Olney. Overall good to very good. In 1869, Khedive Ismail of Egypt appointed Samuel Baker to a four-year term as governor-general of the equatorial Nile basin. Baker's duties included establishing Egyptian authority over the region south of Gondokoro, suppressing the slave trade, introducing cotton cultivation, organizing a network of trading stations throughout the annexed territories, and opening the great lakes near the equator to navigation. To carry out the mission, the khedive provided Baker with a flotilla of ten steamers and fifty-five sailing ships, and about 1700 officers and men. The resulting expedition produced mixed results. Although he suppressed the slave trade in some areas and extended the khedive's authority to Gondokoro and Fatick, he failed to pacify the lawless region between these two places and was unable to annex the wealthy kingdoms of Bunyoro and Buganda. He did collect scientific data on the journey, and the work includes appendices on languages, domestic and wild animals, diseases, meteorology, and geography. (DNB; Tvedt, Nile Bibliography, 325).
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