Timbuctoo the Mysterious

New York: Longmans, Green, & Co, 1896. First edition in English. Wonderful title illustration, and numerous text illustrations, some full-page. Later cloth, with gilt illustration on front cover and title on spine, new endpapers; ownership signature on small board once pasted in (now unglued but present), interior very clean. First edition in English, translated from the French by Diana White. French explorer and journalist Dubois (1862-1945) describes his time as a reporter in Timbuktu in 1894. With one hundred and fifty-three illustrations from photographs and drawings made on the spot, and eleven maps and plans, this well-illustrated work recounts the author’s time traveling by train, on foot and by horseback to Timbuktu. He observes life in the newly occupied city in the late nineteenth century, commenting on the people, culture, commerce, customs, politics, literature and every-day life.