ANDERSSON, Charles John.

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Lake Ngami; or, Explorations and Discoveries, during Four Years' Wanderings in the Wilds of South Western Africa. First edition of Andersson's account of his expedition in modern Namibia to Lake Ngami from 1850 to 1853; a "famous early volume of African sport and travel … a cornerstone book of African hunting in the mid-19th century" (Czech). This is an attractively illustrated book with plates by highly regarded illustrator, Joseph Wolf.Charles John Andersson (1827-1867) was a Swedish explorer who joined Francis Galton's expedition to south-west Africa, "an area which was, at that time, largely unknown to Europeans" (ODNB). The expedition set out in 1850 and eventually reached Tounobis on the border with Botswana. Galton left in 1851, but "Andersson stayed on, determined to follow a career as a trader, traveller and naturalist", basing himself at Otjimbingwe, central Namibia, and becoming "deeply involved in the tribal politics of the region" (Howgego). In 1853, he set out to cross the desert to Lake Ngami (now a seasonal marsh), taking a circuitous route via Windhoek and the Kalahari desert. After reaching the lake, he continued 60 miles further north in search of the Okavango but was obliged to turn back, returning the following year via more settled districts. He published his account during a two-year visit to England. "Few, if any, books give so full and complete an account of Namaqualand, Damaraland, and the Ovampo country, and the description of the fauna of these cou

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