Blantyre resident Eddie McBride dropped this big book into my home the other day. “Life and Explorations of Livingstone” dates from around 1895, making the book 127 years old.

It’s a huge book, documenting the life of Livingstone, including many of his letters. This was on “loan” to me and I managed to scan some of the graphics and some interesting chapters. I’ll need to get it back to Eddie soon, as I found out it’s quite valuable. This book, from that era sells online for between £45 and £160, and the excellent condition of this one, would suggest its worth the upper end of that scale.

Regardless of value, this remarkable book must have once adorned a library in a grand home or made for a special talking point.