Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of the H.M.S. Challenger during the Years 1873-76, under the command of Captain George S. Nares...and Captain Frank Tourle Thomson.

London, Edinburgh etc.: H.M.S.O. for Longman & Co. [and others] 1880-1895, 4to (317 x 250mm.), 42 volumes bound in 50, original publisher’s green cloth gilt, with over 3,280 plates, charts and maps, mostly lithographed, many tinted and many hand-coloured, some double-page and folding, all presented in quarter green-morocco fitted cases. This is H.N. Moseley´s copy, signed in Vol.1. Moseley (1844-1891, british naturalist) was member of the Challenger Expedition and sailed till 1876 with the Challenger. This 50 volume, 29,500 page report took 23 years to compile and publish. At its completion, The Report discussed with full detail of text and illustrations the currents, temperatures, depths and constituents of the oceans, the topography of the sea bottom, the geology and biology of its covering and the animal life of the abyssal waters. The Challenger cruise had lain the cornerstone of scientific oceanography and begun its introduction to the wider scientific and lay community.It includes many observations of other natural history subjects including fauna of the countries visited and the following is a selection of some of the papers included in the volumes: Birds, by P.L.Sclater,with 30 hand-col.plates; Bones of Cetacea, by W.Turner, with 3 plates; Collections of Eggs described by P.L.Sclater; Essay on the Green Turtle by W.K.Parker with 13 plates; Essay on Shore Fishes, with 32 plates and Deep Sea Fishes, with 73 plates, both by A.Gunther; Deep-Sea Fauna of New Zealand, by A.Hamilton. Numerous paper slips are included in the volumes requesting authors to return completed scientific reports for publication. Charles Wyville Thomson led the expedition but died of exhaustion from the journey and the preparation of the reports had to be supervised by Sir John Murray. Many parts were published later as extracts from the original edition. A choice set of this monument to seafaring naturalists and scientists. BM(NH) 11, p. 716; Nissen BBI 2381; Nissen ZBI 4554; Spence 1198; Wood p. 596.