The Congo and the Founding of Its Free State: A Story of Work and Exploration. [With] My Kalulu: Prince, King, and Slave. A Story of Central Africa.

First editions of Stanley’s famed account of his expeditions in the Congo Basin in 1879-84 and his popular classic My Kalulu. Octavo, two volumes bound in three quarter crushed levant morocco over marbled boards with gilt titles and stamping to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, tissue-guarded frontispiece to each volume, illustrated with over on hundred full-page and smaller illustrations, two large maps in rear pocket of each volume, and seven smaller ones. Presentation copies, inscribed by the author on the title page of each volume, "with my best wishes to Major J.B. Pond Henry Morton Stanley. 1890" Uniformly bound with a first American edition of My Kalulu: Prince, King, and Slave. A Story of Central Africa. [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1889] with tissue-guarded frontispiece, illustrated. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the second free endpaper, "To my friend Major J.B. Pond with best wishes Henry M. Stanley 1890." The recipient, James Burton Pond was an abolitionist and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. For his actions during the Battle of Baxter Springs, he received the Medal of Honor. Returning to civilian life, he became a successful lecture manager whose clients included Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, and Henry Morton Stanley. In 1874, Pond purchased the Lyceum Theatre Lecture Bureau and embarked on a career managing speakers. In 1879, he moved his main office to New York City. In addition to Mark Twain's 1884–85 tour, Pond managed the North American stage of the worldwide lecture tour the author undertook in 1895–96 to pay off his enormous debts. He also promoted Winston Churchill's first American tour, though the two had a falling out and Churchill referred to Pond as "a vulgar Yankee impresario." Explorer and journalist Henry Morton Stanley earned $60,000 (approximately $1.86 million in 2023) for an 1890–91 U.S. tour set up by Pond. Other clients included P. T. Barnum, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ellen Terry, and Henry Ward Beecher. In near fine condition. With Pond's bookplate to each pastedown. A very handsome set with fine provenance.