Narrative of an expedition to the Zambesi and its tributaries; and of the discovery of the lakes Shirwa and Nysassa. 1858-1864.

New York, Harper & Brothers, 1866.Original cloth (spine discoloured (one hinge sl. dam.). With double-page plate of the Falls at Zambesi, large folding map, and 36 woodengraved plates and illustrations. XXII,638; 6 pp. First American edition; first published in London in 1865; with the armorial bookplate of Frederick C. Bradley. - Account of Livingstone's second expedition.The British government agreed to fund Livingstone's idea and he returned to Africa as head of the Second Zambesi Expedition to examine the natural resources of southeastern Africa and open up the Zambezi River. However, it turned out to be completely impossible to boats past the Cahora Bassa rapids, a series of cataracts and rapids that Livingstone had failed to explore on his earlier travels. He eventually returned home in 1864 after the government ordered the recall of the expedition because of its increasing costs and failure to find a navigable route to the interior. The Zambezi Expedition, a farcical and costly six-year-long venture that sought to create a missionary arcadia in what is now Malawi, collapsed in 1864 with no coverts or new discoveries, only disarry and death, including that of Livingstone's long-suffering wife Mary (Howgego, The book of exploration, p.246). Livingstone became a protagonist in the fight to abolish slavery.Mendelssohn I, p.915; SAB III, p.137; Howgego IV, p.553-555; Hess & Coger 3069.