Archive of letters to Verney Lovett Cameron compiled by his wife Amy,

£12,500 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

An important archive of original letters and unrecorded material charting the life of Verney Lovett Cameron (1844-1894), the first explorer to cross Africa east to west, lovingly compiled by his widow Amy Nora Read Lovett Cameron (1852-1929). Verney Lovett Cameron was selected to lead the Relief expedition to find Dr Livingstone after several years employed in the suppression of the East African Slave Trade. Shortly after leaving Zanzibar in 1873 Cameron and his companions encountered a caravan bearing the body of Livingstone. Cameron's two colleagues turned back to accompany the body, leaving Cameron to continue his march across Africa. In February 1874 he reached Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, where he found and sent back to England Livingstone's personal papers. He continued on foot along the Congo-Zambezi watershed before finally arriving at Catumbela, on the coast of Angola, almost three years later in November 1875. He was the first European to cross Africa from coast to coast, a distance of some three thousand miles. The three albums contain a trove of letters conveying congratulations and correspondence from various institutions and notable individuals. Some of the most impressive include Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890), Sir Samuel Baker (1821-1893) ('I have just finished Livingstone's Journals I cannot conceive why he did not devote himself to the search for the outlet of the Tanganyika'), Sir Alfred Edward Pease (1857-1939), Sir Clements Markham (1830-1916), Ármin Vámbér

• Binding: Hardcover

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