London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1895. Two volumes in two. 4to (29.2 x 24.6 cm). Half-titles, title pages; 1761 pp. [I: liv, 796; II: xix, 797-1608; (ii), 32; viii, 38]; several text engravings (eight in the Spirula appendix), six tinted lithographed plates (to Spirula); 43 charts (maps), several double-sized or larger, and 27 full colour maps (two very large, double-folded maps in front pocket; nine to the History of Oceanography; 16 to the Ocean Circulation appendix); all double-sized; 22 diagrams of which several large, folded. Original uniform dark green blind-stamped and pebbled cloth. Spines with gilt title. Dark brown endpapers.

The concluding volumes, with a complete list of all the parts published, and a detailed review of the whole itinerary with all the collection stations, each with their physical properties (depth, temperature, location, etc.) and species collected, marking the numerous species described as new. Also, with detailed maps showing the itinerary and all stations, from Portsmouth to Tenerife, to Bermuda and to Cape Verde, then to Fernando de Noronha, Brazil, and onwards to the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, into the Indian Ocean, on to the Kerguelen Islands, then into the Pacific, to Fiji, the Philippines, and to Hawaii, then to the Magellan Strait, Chile, back into the Atlantic to Ascension Island and finally back to Portsmouth. The first volume contains an illustrated history of the science of oceanography, with maps showing the world as seen by various scholars from 450 BCE until 1050 CE, and double-sized maps showing the principal "great discoveries" between 1492 - 1522 CE, and principal maritime explorations from the time of James Cook (1768) to the voyage of HMS Challenger (1876). Several additional chapters deal with the distribution (vertical and horizontal) of species and faunas. All this was the work of John Murray, who also acted as general editor. In the rear are two appendices, namely the belated Report on Spirula (Zoology, part LXXXIII) by Thomas Huxley and Paul Pelseneer, with separate half-title and title page; and - also with separate title and half-title - Report on Oceanic Circulation (Physics and Chemistry, Part VIII), by Alexander Buchan. The Huxley and Pelseneer publication is the final malacological work published in the "Challenger" series. A very good set. A few text gatherings printed on wood-containing paper, which (as always) has a tendency to become brown and somewhat fragile. Uncut. Some very light shelf-wear, otherwise very good, clean and unmarked. Rare, especially in this excellent condition. Cat. BM(NH), pp. 716-717; Nissen ZBI, 4754.