First edition. With Portrait frontispiece, 21 plates, and 2 folding maps.

8vo., original red cloth lettered in gilt on spine with gilt block of camel riding dervishes on upper board. Head and tail of spine a little rubbed, various ink names and inscriptions on half-title which also has embossed “North Court, Brandon, Suffolk” stamp, othjerwise a very good bright copy.

"Slatin's career in the Sudan covered thirty-six eventful years. He started in January 1879 in the finance department as an inspector with the rank of a bimbashi (the Turkish equivalent of a major). Later that year he was appointed governor of Dara, in south-western Darfur, and after less than a year became governor-general of the whole province. In his major publication Fire and Sword in the Sudan (1896) Slatin was vague about his duties in Darfur. However, his life as governor-general was soon disrupted by Muhammad Ahmad ibn 'Abdullahi, who in June 1881 declared himself the Mahdi of the Sudan. Soon the Mahdi and his followers (ansar) escaped from Aba Island, on the White Nile, to the Nuba Mountains and Slatin became actively involved in the uprising Fire and Sword in the Sudan was published in English in 1896 and was dedicated to Queen Victoria. Its impact on public opinion in Europe was greater than Wingate had expected. It appeared in numerous editions until 1935, and was translated into German, Italian, French, and Arabic" (ODNB)