MY LIFE WITH STANLEY'S REAR GUARD

First American edition, same year as the British. With a folding map. Small 8vo, publisher's original gray cloth lettered in black on the spine and upper cover, patterned endpapers with a very attractive Africa-styled bookplate viii, 151 pp. A solid copy of this very scarce edition, the cloth in nice state of preservation with just a little rubbing and wear, hinges all firm and fine, the text very clean with just a hint of age, a small and unobtrusive old stain from water at the fore-edge creeps onto some of the last pages.

Edizione: scarce, this american edition is much less common than the english. after several years of a distinguished career in africa herbert ward was preparing to return to england when stanley, who was assembling the emin pasha relief expedition, appointed him as a lieutenant and placed him under the command of major edmund barttelot in the expedition's rear guard. the rear guard was supposed to have resupplied stanley?s expedition, but disease and the treachery of the chief tippu-tib kept them from making their rendezvous. by the time stanley returned to find them, two of its officers and more than 100 of its porters had died. considerable blame was being spread among the various parties involved, along with accusations of ineptitude, vice and even corruption. herbert felt his character, and that of others, had been maligned for their part in the fiasco. this is his side of the story, written so that the public could come to a fair and impartial judgment of their own.