1948. Eighth Impression. 505 pages. No dust jacket. Blue cloth boards with gilt lettering to spine. Numerous black and white illustrations. Introduction by Julian S. Huxley. Binding a little shaky. Some cracking to gutters, with exposed netting in one or two places. Marginalia to page 8 and illustration has been coloured in on page 9, ink seeping into following page. Pages and illustrations remain bright and clear with minimal tanning. Boards have mild edge wear with slight rubbing to surfaces. Splits to front joint ends. Crushing to spine ends and bumping to corners, fraying to cloth as result. Tanning to spine and edges causing discolouration and gilt lettering to darken. Front board is bowed.