Paris, Société de Géographie, 1882. 8vo (22.7 x 14.0 cm). 38 pp. [numbered 93-130]; two fine, very large, chromolithographed maps. Original blind wrappers.

The maps are titled "Sondages et dragages dans le Golfe de Gascogne", and show the ship's itinerary and stations along a stretch of coast between Tazones in Asturia, Spain, to the west, and Cap Breton, Landes, France, to the east (scale 1: 50,000) (first map), and various stretches of the Atlantic and Mediterranean on the (still larger) second map. Written by the French zoologist Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1830-1900). On board the ship were several important zoologists and malacologists, including the author's father, Henri Milne-Edwards (1800-1885), the chief editor of the Journal de Conchyliologie, Paul Henri Fischer (1835-1893), and Alexandre Guillaume Léopold, Marquis de Folin (1817-1897). This is one of the most important 19th century French natural history expeditions, and one of only a few within the territorial waters of France itself. Published in the society's Bulletin, 7th Series, Vol. 3. Text uncut. Some minimal spotting to map edges, otherwise a very good, clean copy. Rare.