La Route du Tchad

La Route du Tchad
by Jean Dybowski
Adopted by
Michael and Tzun Hardy
on February 15, 2021
Close up of the ornate binding of a book that reads "La route du Tschad"

La route du Tchad; du Loango au Chari. Ouvrage illustré de 136 dessins inédits

By Jean Dybowski. Paris: Librairie de Firmin-Didot et cie, 1893.

The setting: French Equatorial Africa, 1891, the beginning of the scramble for Africa, when Europe’s powers were staking their claims to Africa’s natural wealth and market potential. The author: Jean Dybowski, agronomist and naturalist by training, explorer by inclination. The mission: to support an earlier expedition already in the region. The original mission met with disaster and saw its young, charismatic leader ambushed and murdered, but Dybowski persevered. His account is valuable not only for its descriptive details of anthropology, geography, and natural history but also for its illustrations, many based on snapshots that depict Africans not as “types” but as individuals. The red cloth binding is decorated with embossed gilt work. On the spine, the author, title, and floral designs; on the front board, the emblem of the City of Paris and the words, “Ville de Paris, Prix Municipal.” All the edges are gilt. The illustrations were made by five well-known illustrators, one of whom, Mme. Paule Crampel, was the wife of the murdered man mentioned above.

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