The Finding of Dr Livingstone by H.M. Stanley first edition 1872
London: John Camden Hotten (1872)
*an extraordinary ephemeral item being the first publication of H.M. Stanley's letters in full in the UK, relating to him finding Dr Livingstone*
8vo., In illustrated wrappers, with wonderful colour artwork on the upper wrapper of Stanley meeting Livingstone for the first time with the US flag being waved in the background by locals; pp [xii] 13-130; 2 pages of adverts to the front and 2 pages, incorporating the lower wrapper to the back; with a frontispiece of Dr Livingstone and illustration on the title page of 3 local people from the village they met; an absolutely remarkable survivor in this condition; about very good, with loss to the spine of most of the paper label; the covers are very clean with only the odd mark to the front; the pages are a bit dog eared however they are all there with no loss and in general are clean and without marks; the binding is holding well albeit is cracked, coming away and loose in places; it is a fragile and remarkably well preserved book.
John Camden Hotten was a notoriously contraversial victorian publisher, dabbling in pornography and smut, along with salacious titles such as a dictionary of vulgar words. He was also a bookseller and the address on the front of this book, this being 74 & 75 Piccadilly was the Hotten bookshop. He spent some time in the US previously and had contacts over there in publishing, and so when the Herald offered him the chance to publish Henry Morton Stanley's letters in full to the British public, he jumped at the chance. The Herald had been reporting extensively on Stanley's endevours to find Dr Livingstone, and these reports had made their way to the British Press too. Extracts, pictures were being published on a daily basis - but not the full letters.
So by September 1872, it was down to John Hotten to release this book 'The Finding of Dr Livingstone'. On the title page it reads 'The Full Text of Mr Stanley's letters, now first printed in this country." In the introduction, Hotten also says "The object of this little book is to bring together the scattered information which has reached this country and the United States respecting Mr Stanley's wonderful discovery of Dr Livingstone. It was thought that the various accounts, gathered together in a pamphlet form, would be a convenience to the reading public until such time as the gallant discoverer shall give us a full and carefully prepared account of his extraordinary journey". The reading public as Hotten put it, wouldn't have to wait long, as Stanley had published "How I found Livingstone" only a few weeks later. John Hotten's wife would go on to sell his publishing business after his passing, and it is today Chatto & Windus. But he will always have the claim, amongst his other publishing ventures, to be the first to publish Stanley's letters in the UK.
A truly scarce pamphlet, with none for sale in commerce and only a very small handful in institutions.