First published in instalments in 1868-71, with the first complete edition appearing in 1871, then this, the second edition, of 1876. Large 8vo, iv, directions to the binder, 734 pp, + 6 pp ads to the rear. Illustrated frontis and 14 full page plates plus hundreds of illustrations in the text by Baines. Rebacked spine with original cloth laid over. Some general age appropriate wear to the green cloth boards. Expanded and improved second edition of this classic Victorian manual of travel, survival, and fieldcraft — a comprehensive guide to improvisation in the wilderness, drawing on the authors’ military and exploratory experience. Topics range from tent-making, cooking, and navigation to boat-building and medical care. A cornerstone of nineteenth-century exploration literature and an inspiration for later works on scouting and self-reliance. Tipped in at the free end paper is a note from the renowned naturalist David Attenborough. Also signed by Bob Roberts and Geoff Mulligan, sound recordist and cameraman respectively for the 1965 BBC documentary Adventure, Zambezi. Broadcast in 3 parts, it took Attenborough and his team 4 months to trace the course of the 2000 mile river. “We needed neither Shifts nor Expedients. We had Clayton Holliday. And we are very very grateful” Dated in another hand July 30th 1964, Livingstone. Presumably Clayton Holliday was a guide on the expedition. To the next blank page is a pencil inscription, indistinctly monogramed (possibly Holliday?) “Given to me at the end of the expedition by David at a farewell at Chippie Wood’s Restaurant at Vic Falls. A great party with many laughs and warm friendship, Livingstone 1964.” Also bearing the name twice of a previous owner W. C. Madge. Attenborough famously stated on the BBC podcast Desert Island Discs 2012 that the book that he would be cast away with would be this one. “It’s about four inches thick, and every conceivable disaster that you can think of that might happen to a traveller is there, together with a solution. I mean, and good advice. It says things like, an unmanly fear of fever is inclined to bring on the symptoms. Good stuff, you see. But it also tells you how to use its own, to use the phrase, how to baffle an alligator”. Second edition Very good Hardcover
Publisher: Horace Cox
Date Published: 1876
