Original red cloth, a gilt nugget of gold on both front covers andgilt titles on the spines. Rebacked skillfully , very clean with tight hinges. Inside, no stains or foxing. Publisher ads at the end of vol one dated December 1882. Protected in clear, mylar dustjackets. Burton was a promoter of gold exploration that did not pan out - first in Ghana (then the Gold Coast) and later in Arabia. West Africa had been the first field to supply gold to medieval Europe, as early as 1382 from Elmina to France. The Ashanti War of 1873-74 brough soldiers and colonial entrepreneurs into the valley of the Ancobra River. Burton and Cameron explored the so-called Kong Mountains and this work of natural history and gold was the reslut.