Baines (Thomas) THE VICTORIA FALLS ZAMBESI RIVER Tinted lithographic title page, 8 pages of letter

Tinted lithographic title page, 8 pages of letter press, 10 tinted lithographic plates numbered 2 – 11 and are all dated 4 October 1865, plan, original pebble-grained mauve cloth stamped in blind and titled in gilt on the upper cover, part of the back strip is missing. The original gutta percha binding has decayed leaving all the plates loose (gutta-percha – a latex solution derived from the Palaquium tree – which over time dries and cracks. Almost all books bound in this way in the 19th century now need the attention of a bookbinder), and as a result several are frayed around the edges, the tissue guards are creased, foxing on most of the plates. Preserved in a specially made cloth and paper solander case, titled gilt on upper cover.

The plates are double-tinted lithographs drawn on stone by T.Picken, R.M.Bryson, F.Jones and E.Walker, all after paintings by Baines and printed by Day & Son.

Dedicated, by express permission to the Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society.

Book plate of Edna and Frank Bradlow on front pastedown endpaper.

Title page: An account of the Mosi-o-a-Tunya (Smoke-Sounding) or Victoria Falls.

There follow eight pages of descriptive letterpress, and the plates:
1. Frontispiece, Bird's-eye View of the Victoria Falls from the West.
2. The Falls by Sunrise, with the " Spray-Cloud " rising 1200 feet.
3. The Leaping Water on the Westermost Cataract.
4. The Falls from the Western End of the Chasm.
5. Great Western (or main) Fall.
6. Herd of Buffaloes driven to the Edge of the Chasm.
7. Centre Rock Fall and the Eastern Cataracts.
8. Zanjueelah, the Boatman of the Rapids.
9. The Falls from the East End of the Chasm to Garden Island.
10. The Falls from the Narrow Neck near the Eastern Headland of the Outlet.
11. The Profile Cliff, Narrow Gorge, and Torrent of the Zambesi.