Pp. 30,000+, some color plates, numerous black-and-white plates, half-tones, and text-figures. Early green cloth, gilt-lettered on spine, four volumes in contemporary half leather, two volumes in publisher’s decorated cloth, four volumes in the original printed wrappers, lg 8vo. Volumes 1, 4, 10, 11 in contemporary half leather, volumes 3 and 8 in publisher’s original decorated cloth, volumes 2, 5-7, 9, 12-33, 36, 38-42 in uniform early green cloth, volumes 34-35 and 43-45 in original printed wraps housed in custom-made wooden cases with cardboard sides. Each volume ranges from 600 to 1200 pages. From the private library of paleontologist Claude W. Hibbard with his signature on the front endpaper of most volumes. An almost complete run of the first part of this foundational work on natural history.