4to 11.5"; 2 volumes in one, 4to (268 x 211 mm). Engraved frontispiece, 32 engraved plates (one hand-colored) , 11 in-text woodcut illustrations (2 plans) , 6 engraved maps (5 full-page, one folding). (Some occasional spotting or offsetting. ) Modern half calf over green cloth gilt, smooth spine gilt, 3 black morocco lettering-pieces gilt, edges faintly marbled, marbled endsheets (chipping to lettering-piece, some small scuffs). Provenance: W. Conway (signature). FIRST EDITION of important explorations in Africa. The first volume is an official expedition to discover the course of the Niger from the starting point of Tripoli, rather than West Africa. Clapperton and Oudney were the original members of the party, to which Denham was added, but whose "arrogance, malice, and contempt for his colleagues from the start soured relations between them" (DNB). This famous "Bornu Mission" provided the earliest European report on the Central Sudan and Northern Nigeria. From the Mediterranean they