Henry Stanley’s publisher’s advertisement for 1889 travel account "Heroes of the Dark Continent and how Stanley found Emin Pasha"

4pp publisher’s advertisement for "Heroes of the Dark Continent and how Stanley found Emin Pasha" by J.W. Buel, published by Historical Publishing Co. in 1889. Text and ten illustrations printed on bifold yellow newsprint. This brochure, published by C.R. Parish & Co., Sixth and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, provided an overview of the Buel book, as well as outlined price lists and subscription terms for its 100,000 book selling agents. In very good to near fine condition. Expected wear including paper folds, some brittleness or tiny tears along creases, and isolated edge wear. Each generous and handsomely illustrated page measures 11.25” x 16.5”.

“J.W. Buel, Famous Historian and Author of ‘The Story of Man’, ‘The Living World’, ‘The Beautiful Story’, ‘Sea and Land’, ‘World’s Wonders’, ‘Exile Life in Siberia’, etc.” had produced another best-selling book in 1889.  "Heroes of the Dark Continent and how Stanley found Emin Pasha" gave an overview of African history, customs, and geography, but more importantly, it provided an engrossing account of intrepid explorer Henry Stanley’s quest for colonial governor Emin Pasha in 1886. “The expedition of Stanley, carrying us over a period of three years, is made the crowning feature of this grand book, and without invidious comparison we may justly claim the description, as here given, THE MOST EXCITING, CAPTIVATING, INSTRUCTIVE and altogether the most fascinating narrative that has even been published”, the advertisement rhapsodized.

Buel does inform, but he mostly entertains. His sensationalist writing style is also employed by his book’s publishers and distributors, through their use of capital letters, underlining, different fonts, type size, and run-on sentences. The broadside’s highly descriptive textual imagery and graphically pleasing illustrations whip its readers into a frenzy of anticipation. Buel will paint a portrait of “Savage Africa”, a “Dark Continent” teeming with “wild, dark and dangerous regions”, “hostile men and ferocious beasts”. Readers are both titillated and tremendously satisfied. Buel confirms their preexistent beliefs: Africa is primitive, deadly, and ungoverned, and only whites can deliver civilization, Christianity, and commerce to the continent.

Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) emigrated to the United States as a teenager. His early life demonstrated both his thirst for novelty and his patchy track record. Stanley served as a foreign correspondent cum explorer for the New York Herald. Stanley’s search missions for Scottish missionary David Livingston and regional governor Emin Pasha garnered him celebrity, as did his scouting and mapping expeditions along the Nile and in the Congo Basin. His rescue mission of Emin Pasha took over three years, in which an estimated two thirds of the team died.

Emin Pasha (1840-1892) was a physician and naturalist, and later a colonial governor. He succeeded Charles Gordon as Governor of Equatoria in northern Egypt in 1878. Political unrest forced Pasha and his advisors to retreat to a geographically isolated part of the country in 1886. Stanley’s search for Pasha ended in 1889.

James William Buel, known by his pen name J.W. Buel (1849-1920), was the prolific author of dozens of adventure books published during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. His books explored natural history, human interest stories, and travel accounts of Africa, the American West, and Siberia; celebrities including outlaws; and natural wonders found on land, sea, and in cities. His books, while informative, also relied on sensationalist tactics, and were profusely illustrated to appeal to mass audiences.

A remarkable piece of ephemera, as yellow as the paper that it’s printed on, relating to Henry Stanley’s exploration of northern Africa!

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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