The Source of the Blue Nile – Arthur J. Hayes, Smith Elder & Co. (1905)

A rare first-hand account of exploration in Abyssinia (Ethiopia), published in 1905 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. Written by Arthur J. Hayes, L.S.A. (Lond.), Medical Officer at the Quarantine Office, Suez, who travelled through the Soudan to Lake Tsana in Western Abyssinia before returning to Egypt via the Valley of the Atbara.

The book includes illustrations and maps, a frontispiece photograph of the Blue Nile showing Lake Tsana in the distance, and an Entomological Appendix by E. B. Poulton, LLD., F.R.S., Hope Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford — a significant scientific contribution from one of the leading naturalists of the era.

The volume also contains a note on the Religion, Customs, etc. of Abyssinia, making it a valuable historical and anthropological record of the region at the turn of the 20th century.

Bound in blue cloth boards with gilt lettering to spine and a blind-stamped portrait medallion to front board — believed to depict an Ethiopian royal figure.

Condition notes: Covers show light wear and fading consistent with age; corners lightly bumped (lower right most noticeable); some surface marks to boards; spine solid with legible gilt lettering; interior pages clean with age-appropriate toning.