| Sumario: | First published in London in 1857 by John Murray, David Livingstone'sMissionary Travels and Researches in South Africawas the bestselling travel narrative in nineteenth-century Britain. The remarkable commercial success it enjoyed helps to explain the significant scholarly attention it has attracted to date. This paper extends the critical focus which has lately been directed towards the production ofMissionary Travelsto matters of circulation and reception, demonstrating that the remarkable appetite for knowledge of Livingstone and his travels at this time gave rise to a set of alternative accounts, both prior to and following the publication of the official narrative. While these publications have not yet received significant scholarly attention, this paper reveals that both Livingstone and his publisher had real concerns about their potential to undermine the authorised volume and explores how different publishers and authors sought to establish the authenticity of their own narratives relative to the Murray edition. In the process, this paper draws attention to the wider networks of people and print that were implicated in constructing, communicating and contesting the status ofMissionary Travelsas the only authoritative account of Livingstone's travels in both Britain and America.
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