Laird and Oldfield's Expedition in Africa. Two Volumes

Tan leather spine and corners, Marbled boards, dark green nameplates. Gilt banding and title. Volumes 1 and 2. Dimensions are for one volume. First Edition with additional enclosures.

Laird rested in Fernando Po before returning to England. Laird and Surgeon R. A. K. Oldfield were the only surviving officers besides Captain (then Lieutenant) William Allen, who accompanied the expedition on the orders of the Admiralty to survey the river. In 1837, Laird and Oldfield published the Narrative of an Expedition into the Interior of Africa by the River Niger in 1832, 1833, 1834.

Macgregor Laird (1808 – 9 January 1861) was a Scottish merchant pioneer of British trade on the River Niger. Laird's commercial expedition between 1832 and 1834 to navigate the Niger and initiate trade between Europeans and Africans northwards of the coast was considered a failure, majority of the passengers died, and the volume of trade realized was minimal. However, his experience provided information about the design of vessels suitable on the Niger and the various settlements in the interior of the Niger Delta. Laird never returned to Africa but instead devoted himself to the development of trade with West Africa and especially to the opening of the countries then forming the British protectorates of Nigeria. One of his principal reasons for so doing was his belief that this method was the best means of stopping the slave trade and raising the social condition of the Africans.