Mary Kingsley
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 3rd pr.,
Condition remarks:
Condition: Poor - faded and discoloured boards. Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage. Page Condition: Yellowed, tanning and foxing. Markings: name penned on fep. Binding condition: Worn but intact.
At a time when Victorian society rarely permitted women to venture beyond the drawing room, Mary Kingsley defied every convention and journeyed alone into the uncharted heart of West Africa — and this authoritative biography chronicles every extraordinary step. Cecil Howard reconstructs Kingsley's remarkable life with vivid precision, detailing her daring expeditions through Gabon and the Congo in the 1890s, her encounters with indigenous peoples, and her passionate advocacy for African traders and cultures at a time when colonial prejudice held firm sway. Beyond the adventure, Howard illuminates the deeper tensions of Kingsley's world: a self-educated woman navigating the entrenched hierarchies of empire, science, and gender. Her writings and lectures forced the British establishment to reckon with Africa on its own terms, and her legacy endures as both a triumph of individual will and a complex chapter in the history of exploration. For anyone drawn to lives lived at the absolute edge of possibility, this portrait of Kingsley raises the ultimate question — what drives a person to walk willingly into the unknown?
Author: Cecil Howard
Format: Hardback
Published: 1959, Hutchinson of London
Genre: Biography
Edition: 3rd pr.,
Condition remarks:
Condition: Poor - faded and discoloured boards. Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage. Page Condition: Yellowed, tanning and foxing. Markings: name penned on fep. Binding condition: Worn but intact.
At a time when Victorian society rarely permitted women to venture beyond the drawing room, Mary Kingsley defied every convention and journeyed alone into the uncharted heart of West Africa — and this authoritative biography chronicles every extraordinary step. Cecil Howard reconstructs Kingsley's remarkable life with vivid precision, detailing her daring expeditions through Gabon and the Congo in the 1890s, her encounters with indigenous peoples, and her passionate advocacy for African traders and cultures at a time when colonial prejudice held firm sway. Beyond the adventure, Howard illuminates the deeper tensions of Kingsley's world: a self-educated woman navigating the entrenched hierarchies of empire, science, and gender. Her writings and lectures forced the British establishment to reckon with Africa on its own terms, and her legacy endures as both a triumph of individual will and a complex chapter in the history of exploration. For anyone drawn to lives lived at the absolute edge of possibility, this portrait of Kingsley raises the ultimate question — what drives a person to walk willingly into the unknown?