John Hanning Speke

Search for the Source of the Nile

Please refer to the Wikipedia entry to learn about John Hanning Speke.

Suffice it to say, he first explored with Richard Francis Burton, then discovered the Source of the Nile with James Augustus Grant, who is shown above and to the right behind Speke.

Speke accidentally shot himself, ending his life very early.

The first edition shown at left is Speke's most famous book, published in 1863.

I own a copy just like the one shown at left, except that my copy is not as nice.  I also own a copy of the first American edition, which was published in 1864, a year after the first British edition. 

Speke also wrote WHAT LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, but I do not own a copy. 


Second Edition (London)

WHAT LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCE OF THE NILE by John Hanning Speke

Originally published in Edinburgh and London by William Blackwood and Sons in 1864.

Speke's account of his momentous discovery of Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika, undoubtedly less common than his Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. Although WHAT LED  was published the year after Speke's JOURNAL, this work documents the first 2 expeditions Speke made with Burton.

An image of the first edition in original binding, and then an image of my leather-bound facsimile copy.