VERNER (Captain Willoughby.)
Sketches in the Soudan.
A selection of extracts from Verner’s journal, illustrated with tinted lithographs. Verner accompanied Wolseley on the Gordon Relief Expedition of 1884-85. The expedition arrived too late, although it is still considered one of the most remarkable military feats of the late nineteenth century.
Only 525 copies of this first issue were printed. The lithography was executed by J.C. Keulemans, one of the foremost practitioners of the time. Although Verner was by no means a first-rate draughtsman, the results are nevertheless vivid and effective, for example in depicting the engagement and aftermath of the famous encounter at Abu Klea (Abu Tulaih) on 17 January 1885, in which the British under Colonel Sir Herbert Stewart gave battle to a Mahdist army. Two days later, in action at al-Qubbat, Stewart was mortally wounded, and Verner also depicts his grave at Gakdul Wells.
Ibrahim-Hilmy II, p. 307.
