First edition, first impression. xiv, 226pp, with black and white plate illustrations and one folding map at rear. Brown cloth-covered boards, gilt-stamped lettering on the spine. 8vo. Cloth is worn and marked, rubbed at edges and joints and rounded on corners and spine ends. Text block edges spotted. Gift inscription inked on the front free endpaper and some pencil annotations on front paste down; endpapers slightly grubby else internally neat, clean, bright and tight.
William Roome (1865-1937), an architect by training, was seduced by travelling in Africa in the early years of the 20th century. He first went to Sudan in 1911: by 1914 he had given up his Belfast architectural practice and joined the staff of the British and Foreign Bible Society in Kampala. During the following years he covered vast distances, criss-crossing the African continent on foot and by bicycle, and climbing Kilimanjaro in 1928, collecting ethnographic material and observations as he went.
