8vo. xiv, [2], 314pp. With a lithographed frontispiece, a further five lithographed plates, five engraved illustrations in the text, and a lithographed folding map. Handsomely bound by Riviere (stamp-signed to verso of FFEP) in contemporary richly gilt-tooled 'Spanish calf', contrasting red morocco lettering-pieces, A.E.G., marbled endpapers, gilt dentelles. Spine a trifle dulled.

A sumptuous copy of the first edition of biostatistician, human geneticist, and eugenicist Francis Galton's (1822-1911) vivid account of his 1850 expedition to south-west Africa, an area at the time largely unknown to Europeans. For the book, Galton received a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society, a fellowship of the Royal Society, and membership of the Athenaeum.