Buy used:
$8.96
FREE delivery May 15 - 21. Details
Or fastest delivery May 9 - 13. Details
Used: Good | Details
Sold by ThriftBooks-Phoenix
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Travels in West Africa Paperback – January 23, 2003

by Mary H. Kingsley (Author)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 24 ratings
See all formats and editions
Upon her sudden freedom from family obligations, a sheltered Victorian spinster traded her stifling middle-class existence for an incredible expedition in the Congo. Mary Kingsley traversed uncharted regions of West Africa alone, on foot, collecting specimens of local fauna and trading with natives--a remarkable feat in any era, but particularly for a woman of the 1890s. After hacking her way through jungles, being fired upon by hostile tribesmen and attacked by wild animals, Kingsley emerged with no complaint more serious than a pair of tired feet. She undertook her exploits in the traditional garb of her era but lived as a native, and she found herself drawn into the life and problems of the region: its diversity of customs and beliefs; its geography and natural history; its trade network; the impact of missionaries; and many other issues of the day. Her account of her experiences, suffused with an infectious good humor, was published to immediate success in 1897 and remains a compelling tale of adventure.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    800 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Dover Publications
  4. Publication date
    January 23, 2003
  5. Dimensions
    5.25 x 1.75 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0486424901
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0486424903
  8. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dover Publications (January 23, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 800 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0486424901
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0486424903
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.81 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 1.75 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
24 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kay A. Douglas
5.0 out of 5 stars A most remarkable woman
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2000
Verified Purchase
If you enjoyed Katherine Hepburn's spunky performance in "The African Queen" or delight when Elizabeth Peters' fictional Amelia Peabody prods a villain with her trusty umbrella, you will undoubtedly enjoy the real adventures of Mary Kingsley in Africa. At thirty years of age, her parent having both died, the sheltered Miss Kingsley set off for the continent that had for so long ruled her imagination. Setting herself up as a trader in West Africa, she set out across treacherous swamps and uncharted regions, going where few white men - let alone women - had ever been.
Kingsley wrote of her travels with a self-deprecating wit, impaling many of the racial and cultural prejudices of her day. She vastly preferred, for example, the uncoverted "cannibal Fans" to the tribes influenced by missionaries. She distrusted the motives of the "civilizing" European forces, with good reason.
My copy of this affordable Everyman edition, ably edited and introduced by Elspeth Huxley, is thick with favorite underlined passages. She writes of harrowing experiences as if she were recounting events at an ice cream social. Indeed, invariably dressed in proper Victorian garb throughout all her travels, she once escaped impalement in a game trap set with spikes - her voluminous skirts saved her. Of an eight-foot crocodile attempting to climb into her canoe, whom Kingsley dealt a repelling blow with a paddle, she remarked, "This was only a pushing young creature who had not learnt manners."
Travelling without the vast entourage that other explorers, such as Stanley, seemed to find necessary, she possessed an independence which bordered on eccentricity. She was, as Elspeth Huxley notes, at heart a lone wolf, always preferring to go her own way and make her own judgements about those she encountered. The character of this indomitable, fascinating woman shines through her account of her travels.
11 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars not enough adventure
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2001
Verified Purchase
I bought this book because it was supposed to be one of the 100 greatest adventure books of all time. While it does have narrow escapes and Mary Kingsley was very brave, there is too much discussion of "the African mind". I found the constant reference to the superiority of the European colonists very offputting. Of course it was written in the 1890's!
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Tony Watson
5.0 out of 5 stars A classic of travel writing.
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2002
Single and independent, with a small allowance after the death of her parents, Mary Kingsley decides to explore Africa. She sets off to the Congo, with no entourage nor special clothing and with no knowledge of the local lingo, knowing that this area was renowned for cannibals. Considering that Richard Burton set off to find the centre of Africa with an entourage of 600 bearers puts Ms.Kingsley's trip into perspective.
This is not just a wishful fantasy, she has an agenda to research the fetish cults of the natives and collect animal specimens, as well as fulfil the wanderlust that she had bottled up while looking after her parents.
She takes everything in her stride, beating off crocodiles - 'he was only a pushing young creature', wading through fetid swamps, falling into a staked animal trap and attributing her salvation to the benefits of a good thick woollen skirt!
She has a wonderful way with words; that dry, laconic humour that starts one into fits of giggling; the page-long description of 'Hubbards' sent out by well-meaning, misguided women in Europe for the use of the natives is absolutely wonderful.
She has excellent communication skills, getting what she wants from any native by offering him exactly what he wants - tobacco (reminding us of Xabicheh in 'Dead Man') - and if he doesn't want that, then he must need a hairpin to clean out his pipe!
I am awed by the determination, bravery, guts and chutzpah of this young woman; even more awed by her writing skills - which are definitely not in the Victorian mold, would that there were more of her books than the two she wrote (the other is 'West African Studies'), sadly this was not to be, as she died of typhoid in Capetown in 1900.
A book to savour - highly recommended! *****
14 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Ein Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars Very well written tale of African travel
Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2000
Mary Kingsley's "Travels in West Africa" has become a classic, and deservedly so. Her story is remarkable. In the 1890's, unmarried and no longer having to care for her parents, Kingsley decides she should travel in "the tropics" and sets off for "West Africa" (i.e., the West coast of Central Africa). She travels as a scientist, collecting fish specimens, and finances her travels by trading along the way--but mostly she travels for the love of adventure and to satisfy an appetite for the unknown.
Kingsley's book is a treasure trove of information about Atlantic-coast Central Africa in the late 1800's. But beyond its historic and sociological value, the book is just wonderful. Her descriptions are vivid, her insights interesting, and her understated humor is a joy. Anyone with a love of exploration and a good story would enjoy this book.
The Everyman edition is an abridged version (edited by Elspeth Huxley, of "The Flame Trees of Thika" fame). Older, unabridged versions are highly recommended.
Readers with a particular interest in Gabon should also see the works of Robert Nassau, an American missionary who was in Gabon when Kingsley traveled there. Evidently they met and discussed all things African at length, though Kingsley makes little mention of him. Nassau wrote "Fetichism in West Africa", "In an Elephant Corral" and "My Ogowe", but doesn't get the credit he deserves. Also of interest is "One Dry Season: In the Footsteps of Mary Kingsley" by Caroline Alexander. Alexander visited Gabon in the 1980's and compared what she saw then to what Kingsley had seen a century earlier.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Anindita ghosh
5.0 out of 5 stars Good gift
Reviewed in India on October 20, 2019
Verified Purchase
Good gift
Report
Peter B
5.0 out of 5 stars Down amongst the mangroves
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 23, 2016
Verified Purchase
This is a rattling good read and presents yet another indomitable Victorian lady set on adventure, exploration and scientific investigation.
Report
Arun Venkataraman
1.0 out of 5 stars Issues of Kindle version compatibility
Reviewed in India on May 4, 2021
Verified Purchase
I could not open on my Kindle so request a refund. I could only open in a Kindle App on my Android phone
Report
Gerard L
2.0 out of 5 stars Cambridge Texts of "enduring scholarly value" and excessive price
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 19, 2012
Verified Purchase
A poorly printed book. Page 29 has a large gap in the text. I was able to retrieve the missing paragraphs by visiting an internet page where the original text could be accessed free of charge and at the click of a mouse. Cambridge University Press are a crying disgrace.

I am prepared to buy a good hard copy of book which is in the public domain and is available online because in this form I can read it anywhere, without a computer, make notes on the pages, etc. However, it is clear that Cambridge University Press have taken capitalism to the point of daylight robbery. This is not the first time they have relied on their long-established reputation to market low quality texts at exorbitant prices. They seem not to care about their reputation any longer, but only about the short term profits such practices will realise.

The back cover of the book offers "more information on this author" at a web address which on investigation is found to be part of a site called `Orlando', covering women's writing in general. Corralling her in this way with 'wimmin writers' seems grossly unfair to the memory of an extremely exceptional and heroic explorer who was not only greatly respected in her own day as a travel writer among travel writers, but was openly contemptuous of feminism. True also to the ethos of Cambridge University Press, an annual subscription to the site is required (terms available on request) in order to obtain any more information on Mary Kingsley than the reader will already have at hand.
5 people found this helpful
 Report
Fazmam
4.0 out of 5 stars Travels in West Africa (Penguin Classics) ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2015
Verified Purchase
Bought as a present so I cannot comment on the contents but the recient liked it!
Report