'In 1768, with Italian artist and friend Luigi Balugani, Bruce resolved to mount an expedition to search for the source of the Nile River. They were the first Europeans to focus exclusively on that goal.

The men ascended the Nile to Aswan; thwarted by hostile tribes, they then headed east across the desert to the Red Sea, to Jidda on the Arabian Peninsula, then southward, crossing back to the Eritrean port of Massawa, which they reached in September 1769. They arrived in the Ethiopian capital city of Gondar in February 1770. Exploring the region around Lake Tana, he came upon the Springs of Geesh on 14 November 1770, which he mistakenly took as the source of the Nile. What he named the Fountains of the Nile were in fact the sources of the Blue Nile and had already been seen and identified by Portuguese Jesuits almost 150 years earlier. Bruce's artist assistant died in 1771, and Bruce left Gondar later that year, sailing down to present-day Khartoum, making an arduous trek across 400 miles of the Nubian Desert to reach Aswan, and then traveling down the Nile to Cairo. He arrived in England in June 1774.

Today, he is credited with rekindling European interest in uncharted Africa, particularly the upper reaches of the Nile, and stimulating geographic inquiry in Britain, which lead to the founding of The African Association' (Delaney Mountains of the Moon).

First edition. 5 volumes, 4to., uncut, engraved title vignettes, three large folding maps, 55 engraved plates including 53 natural history studies, four leaves of Ethiopian script, modern half tan morocco gilt, marbled boards, some old water staining, occasionally heavy, a good set.

Gay 44; Nissen ZBI 617; Hilmy I, 91; Blackmer 221; Playfair, Tripoli, 120.