Bidspirit auction | Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de

Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto - Como Eu Atravessei África, 2 Vols 1ª Edição - Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, 1881. Published in 1881 in London, printed by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington. First Portuguese edition (printed simultaneously with the English edition by the same prestigious London publishing house) of this monumental and mythical travel narrative by the celebrated explorer, military man, and colonial administrator Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto (1846-1900), which meticulously documents his historic scientific crossing of the African continent, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean (journey from Benguela to the opposite coast undertaken between 1877 and 1879). Complete work in its main body in two luxurious volumes: Volume I — ”Pam's Rifle” and Volume II — ”The Coillard Family”. The edition is profusely illustrated in the text and separately with approximately 130 beautiful 19th-century engravings based on the author's drawings, portraits, ethnographic diagrams, tables of meteorological and astronomical observations, and facsimiles of fold-out maps and route diaries. Of particular note are the magnificent large-format fold-out topographic maps on separate sheets of thick paper (including the large ”Map of Central and Southern Africa”). Copies are bound in their extraordinary and rare original publisher's bindings in dark green percaline, boasting magnificent and expressive historical period engravings in gold and black relief on the front covers and spines, depicting traditional weapons, palm trees, and native warriors. Magnificent bibliographic pedigree: it boasts the engraved heraldic ex-libris of the illustrious private library of J. G. Mazziotti Salema Garção, pasted onto the endpapers above the marbled flyles, the respective dry embossed mark (blind stamp) on the frontispiece of both volumes, and on the flyleaf the handwritten note in pencil referring to the prestigious Soares & Mendonça Auction (Porto, Lot No. 2572). The text block is in excellent mechanical and fresh condition, with the original margins intact and only the patina and marginal oxidation perfectly normal for the nature of the paper and the age of the work. One of the greatest and most coveted relics of Portuguese travel and colonial exploration literature.