It's time to hit the road. Or maybe the sea. Travels a few centuries ago of great distances were more often by sea. Shapero Rare Books has issued a catalogue of Travel 2026. The catalogue is from 2026 but not the journeys. Europeans set off to see the world about which much less was known back then. They brought back tales of foreign lands. Here are a few.
I don't know which was the best journey ever, but here is an account of The Worst Journey in the World. The author was Apsley Cherry-Garrard, who had the misfortune of participating in Robert Falcon Scott's journey to Antarctica in 1911. Scott made it to the South Pole on January 17, 1912, only to discover that Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten him to be the first. On the return trip the weather turned bad, even by Antarctic standards. Scott and his companions never made it back. Cherry-Garrard wasn't with him. As assistant zoologist he and two others were sent to collect emperor penguin eggs. Cherry-Garrard was the only one of that group to make it back alive. He later was one of those who located Scott's body. No wonder he considered this the worst journey in the world. Item 102. Priced at £4,000 (British pounds, or approximately $5,412 in U.S. currency).
This account of Scott's Last Expedition came from Scott himself. Naturally, he could not write the final chapter as he and his companions died on the walk back from the Pole, but it does contain his final words before setting down his pen for good. This copy is a signed presentation from Scott's widow, Kathleen Scott, to Edward William Nelson, one of the tragic journey's participants. Nelson went with Scott to establish one of the supply depots, but after that his responsibility was to take oceanographic observations, including recordings of the the tides. It kept him from the inland journeys that took the lives of others. Item 116. £7,500 (US $10,148).
James Bruce undertook these Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. No one knew where the Nile began at the time, and despite Bruce's belief that he had answered the mystery, they still didn't know the source of the Nile after his journey. Bruce found the source of the Blue Nile, but the White Nile is considered the more significant source of the river. It would be almost another century before the source of the White Nile was found. Nonetheless, Bruce's effort was still an amazing accomplishment. Hostile tribes prevented Bruce from just proceeding upriver. He had to take a long, circuitous route to the Red Sea and Eritrea before heading back to the river. He found Lake Tara and the Springs of Geesh, which he took to be the source, but alas, it was only the source of the Blue Nile. Item 4 is a first edition, published in 1790. £5,000 (US $6,766).
Here is another Nile journal, appropriately titled Another Nile Journal, and Notes from Egypt and Elsewhere. The authors were E.S.T. and M.W.T. The book was published in 1881. With Britain now in control of Egypt, the Nile became a tourist attraction. Thomas Cook owned the rights to providing Nile excursions. This family hired their own private boat to travel the river. They saw the sphinx, a pyramid, Heliopolis, Aswan, and Luxor, and the packing of Cleopatra's Needle for shipment to New York. The book contains 11 albumin prints of sketches with captions. The authors provide extensive descriptions of local villages and customs, with mentions of sheikhs and politics. This book is extremely rare. There are no recorded copies in institutions, nor has it ever appeared at auction. Item 9. £3,500 (US $4,738).
We next head farther south on the African continent for The Victoria Falls Zambesi River Sketched on the Spot, published in 1865. The sketches were the work of Thomas Baines. Baines was the artist on David Livingstone's 1858 Zambesi expedition, but he stopped short of the falls. He would join James Chapman on an expedition in 1861 and this time he reached the falls. His sketches were hand-colored by others for the publication of this book. Item 2. £12,500 (US $16,916).
Shapero Rare Books may be reached at +44 (0)20 7493 0876 or rarebooks@shapero.com. Their website is www.shapero.com.
