David Livingstone
various, ca. 1857-1898
Archive (3) ALS of Explorers David Livingstone and Henry M. Stanley
Archive

A trio of letters signed by explorers David Livingstone and Henry M. Stanley. Two of the letters are signed "David Livingstone" and the third is signed "Henry M. Stanley." Livingstone's letters are dated August 24, 1857 and August 30, 1864 and relate to several invitations sent to him, while Stanley's letter is dated later on May 12, 1898 and concerns Royalty payments. All three letters have flattened mail folds and varying degrees of light soiling. All boldly signed.

1. August 24, 1857, Hadley Green. Addressed to Dr. Lloyd: "As your house will probably be flooded during this week shall go to see Macgreger's and hope to arrive there on Friday 28th. I beg you to present my hearty thanks to Mrs. Lloyd for her kind invitation. Mrs. Livingstone does not travel with me on account of sending off our children to Scotland. Hoping soon to have the pleasure of shaking you by the hand. [postscript] I hope Dr. N[orton] Shaw has taken the large map of the Geograssland Society with him to be used in the lecture."

2. August 30, 1864, Hamilton. Addressed to an unknown recipient: "The limited time I have to spend at home compels me to decline all invitations such as that with which you have kindly favoured me - If I departed from this rule I assure you it would be utterly impossible to accomplish work which I have very much at heart so I hope you will take my refusal in a friendly spirit and oblige."

3. May 12, 1898, Whitehall, London. Addressed to Messrs Harper & Brothers: "I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your cheque for ?6-4-2 for Royalty as per statement, for which please accept my best thanks."

David Livingstone (1813-1873) was a Scottish-born Christian missionary and explorer whose work in Africa was focused mainly on learning the source of the Nile River for the purpose of abolishing the East African slave trade. Throughout his life, Livingstone claimed that "legitimate commerce" by river into central Africa would end slave trading, although his explorations ultimately brought him too far west into the Congo River system. Nevertheless, his death would inspire the founding of several major central African Christian missionary initiatives as part of the European "Scramble for Africa".

Welsh explorer Henry M. Stanley (1841-1904) emigrated to the United States at 18 and served in both the Confederate and Union Army, as well as the Union Navy. After the war, Stanley served as a foreign special correspondent for the New York Herald, which led to him joining the search missions Scottish missionary David Livingston. Upon finding the expedition on November 10, 1871 in Ujiji, in present-day Tanzania, Stanley later claimed to have uttered the apocryphal "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" This line, however, was never recorded in Stanley's journals, and neither men mentioned it in letters of the time, meaning the pithy line was likely an embellishment on Stanley's part. More than a century after his death, Stanley's legacy remains the subject of enduring controversy due to his alleged cruelty to men who served under him and his opinions on African people, women, and people of mix-race.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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