first edition of an account of Burton's expedition to Somalia with his future rival John Hanning Speke. first issue, bound in violet cloth. With the first leaf (of 2) of the rarely seen Appendix IV, later suppressed (and here slit for cancellation). Titled "A Brief Description of Certain Peculiar Customs," the text itself is in Latin and concerns the prevalence of female genital mutilation in East Africa. The missing second leaf has the conclusion of the text on recto and blank verso. Casada 35; Penzer, pages 60-63 (describing the first issue as being in violet cloth, "exceedingly rare and practically unobtainable").