Octavo blue printed cloth covers (worn to edges, darkened but entirely sound). Endpapers are publisher's booklists and counted in pagination (which also includes title leaf + contents) 256pp. Some blank versos of maps have been used for a child's drawings and in one case an inscription has blotted onto the facing page of text. A few stray marks (some on the maps) and some fingering but no tears or loose pages. Good quality binding with inner hinges reinforced in buckram and sewn onto 4 linen tapes as manufactured to withstand school usage over the years. *Text often quite opinionated and prejorative. Each country is rated by quality of its inhabitants, education (some listed as backward, indolent, others as advanced) - Dutch character assessed as clean, frugal, industrious and brave, others listed as despotic (Turkish sultan "controled by the Koran", "bankrupt country", "City infested by dogs". The military power of each country is also assessed, how many soldiers they can field, how many and what kind of ships can they muster etc. No date after 1881 has been found and this schoolbook is very interesting for its characteristic Victorian outlook on the world.