[AFRICA / EXPLORERS / MANUSCRIPT] Autograph letter signed 'Richard F. Burton', to "Dear ? Thomson"
RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON, (British explorer, orientalist, and scholar who was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas), (1821-1890)., Manuscript ALS , London, 1872.
Original autograph letter signed by Richard Francis Burton with its original envelope bearing London and Edinburgh postal stamps. “Athenaeum”, "? 28, [1872]" to "Dear ? Thomson", thanking him. (13 x 10 cm). He mentions another explorer of Africa, David Livingstone (1813-1873) in the letter. With his Arabic "Abdullah Abdhoo" letterhead both on the envelope and blue letter paper. 4 p. on a bifolium. The envelope has tears, but no missing and chipping. Folded paper.
Sir Richard Francis Burton was a British explorer, scholar, and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations throughout Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of diverse languages and cultures. According to an account, he spoke twenty-nine European, Asian and African languages. Burton's best-known achievements include a well-documented journey to Mecca in disguise, at a time when Europeans were forbidden access to the pain of death; an unexpurgated translation of One Thousand and One Nights (commonly called The Arabian Nights in English after the early translations of Antoine Galland's French version); the publication of the Kama Sutra in English; a translation of The Perfumed Garden, the "Arab Kama Sutra"; and a journey with John Hanning Speke as the first Europeans to visit the Great Lakes of Africa in search for the source of the Nile.