This book, dedicated to George IV when Prince Regent and acquired by him for his library at Carlton House, contains accounts of Morocco and the Malian city of Timbuktu. This is the second edition including, according to the advertisement at the front of the work, additional chapters on the natural history of the region, the languages of the Berber (Imazighen) people and a comparison of different Arabic dialects.

According to his preface, the author of the book, James Grey Jackson, had lived in Morocco for sixteen years and initially made notes about the country for his own reference ahead of writing his memoirs. However, following meeting a ‘distinguished Nobleman’ (Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 2nd Earl of Moira) he had been persuaded to publish an account of the country for a wider audience. Moira was a member of the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa (known as the African Association), established by Sir Joseph Banks in 1788 to sponsor expeditions in search of Timbuktu. Jackson had never been to the city but used the accounts of caravans that had visited to describe it, its rumoured wealth and its connections to all parts of central Africa. He argued that if Britain could gain access to Timbuktu, it would serve as an excellent base to explore further the interior of the continent.