This digital library is prepared
and maintained by Dr. David C. Bossard.

NOTICE March 25, 2008 This web site may be unavailable for a brief period due to a server upgrade. If you cannot access this site, or if links are inactive, please return at a later date.

Last update November 22, 2007.  Recent addition: corrections and additions to The Challenger Medal.

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This library contains a number of books and reports written (mostly) in the 19th century. The books are available for direct viewing.

22 November 2006 NOTICE -- New CD & DVD Collections Available. The HMS Challenger library is available in 17 updated topical collections, available individually or as a set. The CD  collections include the entire contents of the HMS Challenger library as currently posted (text images at 100 ppi). The DVD collections include the contents plus text images at 400 ppi and  original full-size unprocessed photographic images of all plates at 200 ppi. Each CD and  DVD is designed to operate independently, or the contents can be combined to mirror the web site collection. Both collections are available in standard high quality media or in special archival gold media, rated for over 100 years. Please use the Catalog of the H.M.S. Challenger Library to order these collections. Similar collections for the Golden Age of Geology library will be available after adding some important new material to the collection. Please send any inquiries or special requests to  Dr. David C. Bossard.

26 August 2006 SPECIAL POSTING NOTICE John Theodore Merz, A History of European Thought in the Nineteenth Century is now available for viewing. This is a very readable account of the progress of science and philosophy during the century, written just prior to the major scientific and cultural events of the Twentieth century. I find his narrative fascinating for two very different reasons: first, for the insight that he provides on the interactions of science in England, France and Germany in the Nineteenth century; and second, for the total absence of any insight or foreview into the cataclysm soon to follow -- in which secular forces, inspired by just the science and philosophy that he opened up so well, destroyed many times more lives and ways of life than all of the (regretable) religious wars and pogroms in all of history to that time.

You may purchase your own CD or DVD copy of the reports from the catalog, or make a modest contribution to help fund this work, which is done entirely by unpaid, voluntary help.

Current Contents.

    • The H.M.S. Challenger Library. This library includes the entire set of 90+ biological reports produced in  connection with the H.M.S. Challenger Voyage of Exploration (1873-1877), as well as some additional contemporary books related to the Voyage. The Challenger reports include many thousands of engraved plates, woodcuts and photographs. The entry portal to this library is duplicated below.


    • The Golden Age of Geology Library. This library includes the writings of a number of prominent scientists involved in the establishment of the science of Geology. Authors included are: Agassiz, Buckland, Hitchcock, Lyell, Hugh Miller, Paley, Zittel and others.

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The H.M.S. Challenger Expedition, conducted between 1873 and 1876 was one of the first, and perhaps the most thoroughly documented, of many expeditions devoted to the investigation of ocean physics and biology. All of the 90-odd Zoology and Botany reports published by the Expedition have been digitized and are available here for browsing.  The reports include over 30,000 pages of text and many thousands of illustrations.

Direct Access to the reports is through the Linked Index. An Illustrated Index is also provided, and can be accessed through the H.M.S. Challenger Library Entry Portal. but it is very large (over 30 Mb) because it includes many sample plates from the reports.

The Catalog of the H.M.S. Challenger Library also includes a complete list of the individual reports and collections available for purchase on CD or DVD.

The Challenger Medal, prepared by Glenn M. Stein F.R.G.S., describes the medal awarded in 1895 to participants in the Challenger Voyage of Exploration. A pdf version is available here.

Report on Deep Sea Deposits (1891) has been added to the library. This is Section III of the Challenger Reports.


To inaugurate this web site, I am featuring Sclater's Report on the Birds, published in 1881.  This report is remarkable for its color plates.


The Corals.  The following Challenger reports are devoted to the corals:
        

Zoology  7 VII: Report on Certain HYDROID, ALCYONARIAN, and MADREPORIAN CORALS.  By Professor H. N. Moseley, M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S., F.L.S.
   Bound in Volume 2,1881. 248 pages with 32 plates.


Zoology  46 XLVI: Report on the REEF CORALS. By John J. Quelch, B.Sc. (Lond.).
   Bound in Volume 16,1886. 203 pages with 12 plates.

Zoology  64  LXIV: Report on the ALCYONARIA. By Professor E. Perceval Wright, M. A., M. D., Sec. M.R.I.A., and Professor Th. Studer, M.D.
   Bound in Volume 31,1889. 314+72 pages with 49 plates and 5 woodcuts.



Zoology  80  LXXX: Report on the ANTIPATHARIA. By George Brook, F.L.S.,  F.R.S.E.
   Bound in Volume 32,1889. 222+13 pages with 15 plates and 9 woodcuts.



Zoology  81  LXXXI: Report on the ALCYONARIA (Supplement). By Professor Th.  Studer, M.D.
   Bound in Volume 32,1889. 31 pages with 6 plates.

Contributions to the HMSC Library This web site has been developed and is maintained by volunteers. It is intended as a free library resource for individuals to browse and download. As web usage shows the value of these postings, we plan to add more material for download. You can "vote" by using the materials offered here and by making suggestions for inclusion in the library. If you desire particular items that are not currently available for download, please contact the webmaster. If you have access to a particular report or book related to the HMSC expedition, please let us know. You can help us, and expand the materials available for download  by your purchases, or by making a contribution to the HMSC Library.

If you have questions or suggestions please email Dr. Bossard at webmaster.


Notice: This web site and all of the digitized documents available from this site are copyrighted by Dr. David C. Bossard. All Rights reserved. It is permissible to view and download single copies of the reports for personal use.