Beschreibung:

Crowther ( Rev. Samuel) Journal of an Expedition up the Niger and Tshadda Rivers , undertaken by Macgregor Laird, Esq. in connection with the British Government, in 1854, first edition, signed by the author at head of title, folding engraved map, light foxing, front free endpaper clipped at upper outer corner, original blind-stamped blue cloth, light damp-staining to foot of lower board, slight wear to joints, preserved in modern cloth slip-case, 8vo, 1855. ⁂ Rare account of the Second Niger Expedition of 1854 by the first African Anglican bishop. Samuel Ajayi Crowther (c.1809-81) was an African missionary and bishop. Born in Osogun in the Egba section of the Yoruba people, now western Nigeria, he was captured as a slave when a boy but rescued and freed by the British in Sierra Leone and took refuge with the Church Missionary Society in Freetown, where he became a Christian and interested in languages. He accompanied the missionary James Schön on his expedition to Niger in 1841 (see lot 77) and after having been ordained was invited to join Macgregor Laird's expedition in 1854. He learnt many African languages and translated the Bible and Book of Common Prayer into Yoruba, as well as publishing vocabularies, primers or grammars of Yoruba, Igbo and Nupe. This work contains vocabularies of several languages at the end. He opened several missions, particularly the Niger Mission in 1857, and in 1864 he became the first African Anglican bishop, with the title "Bishop of the countries of Western Africa beyond the Queen's dominions." We can find no copy having been sold at auction.