This book sold very slowly and there were probably many more variants than the five that F&W listed. The book was published in 1844, but by 1860 was still listed for sale at a reduced price.
This binding is very plain and was possibly done for a library. It is definitely not a rebinding.
This was Gosse’s second book on natural history. At this early date he did not know enough zoology from personal experience and had to rely heavily on other text books.
