THE PERFECT VICTORIAN HERO: SAMUEL WHITE BAKER. By Michael Brander.

1982 1st edition. 8vo (158 x 235mm). Pp184. B/w illustrations, end-paper maps, bibliography. Black cloth, spine titled in gilt.

"This is the remarkable story of Samuel White Baker (1821-1893) - explorer, soldier and hunter. Samuel White Baker was born the son of a typical Victorian wealthy middle class family, but abandoned a comfortable life as a businessman in favour of travel and adventure. He developed an agricultural settlement in the hinterland of Ceylon. He bought his second wife in a slave market on the lower Danube, and, with her, spent five years exploring Abyssinia and the sources of the Nile. He has been described as a 'kind of fulcrum in African exploration'. He returned to England to adoration and adulation from a hero-worshipping public. Later he was, at the request of the Prince of Wales, to turn once more to Africa with a remit to work to bring about an end to slave trading." Lots of exploration and a great deal of big game hunting, in the context of contemporary current affairs and politics. Chapters include: Background; Ceylon; Newera Eliya; After Ceylon; Into Africa; To the Source; The return home; Suppressing the slave trade, 1st stage; Suppressing the slave trade, 2nd stage; Around the world; The latter years; Conclusion.