Caillié, Réné.

First English edition. 8vo. 2 vols. pp. viii, 475 & xiv, [i, blank], 501; port. frontis. to vol. I, folding litho. frontis. to vol. II, 4 wood-eng. plates, 2 large folding maps; foxing to each frontis., upper outer corner of prelims. to vol. I slightly chipped, else very good in contemporary half calf with the bookplates of Sir Francis Hopkins, spines elaborately gilt with contrasting lettering pieces and raised bands, a handsome set.

In the early nineteenth century, the city of Timbuktu (now in Mali) was regarded by Europeans as a sort of El Dorado. No European on record had visited the city, and the French Société de Géographie offered a 10,000 franc reward to anyone who could bring back a report of the place. Caillié (1799-1838) had visited Senegal several times already before he decided in 1824 to reach Timbuktu. To this end, he spent time learning Arabic and Islamic customs, and eventually passed himself off as an Egyptian Arab attempting to return home after imprisonment by the French. By this subterfuge, he eventually reached Timbuktu, spending two weeks there before returning with a caravan across the Sahara to Fez. From there he reached France, and his report earned him the prize money offered by the Société de Géographie. Caillié had in fact been the second European to reach Timbuktu - Major Gordon Laing reached the city in 1826; but Laing was murdered on his departure from Timbuktu, so that Caillié could claim to be the first European to bring back a report of the city.