Large scales — Large numbers — Large efforts: Historical annotations -- The Edinburgh/Durham galaxy survey -- The APM galaxy survey: Some data reduction techniques -- Comparison of the correlation functions of bright and faint galaxies -- The Muenster Redshift project. Automated analysis of galaxy clustering on Schmidt plates -- On the use of redshift surveys in observational cosmology -- Wavelength calibration of objective prism plates by transformation from direct plates -- The Muenster redshift project. Automated redshift measurements from low-dispersion objective prism Schmidt plates -- A study of galaxies with z?0.3 in the ESO/SRC Atlas Field No. 411: Galaxy distribution and luminosity functions -- A study of nearby clusters of galaxies -- An application of projected distance cross-correlation for Abell clusters -- Three-point correlations of Abell clusters -- The hydra-centaurus supercluster -- On the orientation of double galaxies -- Visual light and infrared observations as complementary sources of data on intergalactic dust -- Quasar search on objective prism plates -- A search for homogeneous samples of quasars -- Slit spectroscopy of candidates from automated quasar detection on UKSTU prism plates -- The use of quasars for the construction of a future extragalactic inertial reference frame -- Voronoi foam as a model of the medium-scale universe -- Prospects for measuring the evolution of the luminosity function and the angular correlation function -- Galaxy redshift-number counts with MRSP data: A method of estimating q 0 -- Photometry from Schmidt plates -- Mathematical aspects of internal magnitude calibration -- Methods of deconvolution -- Comparison of different mathematical methods for the investigation of object distributions -- Multivariate analysis methods: Background and example -- Supervised and unsupervised classification — The case of IRAS point sources -- The hardware and software support for the MRSP.

This book will certainly be considered an important reference for astronomers and astrophysicists handling large amounts of data in observational and theoretical approaches to the large scale structures in the universe. The contributions are written with an emphasis on methods. The volume contains among many other topics recent observational results on redshift surveys of clusters and distributions of galaxies and quasars, together with articles on the importance of these findings for future standards and for theoretical predictions. A long historical chapter serves as an introduction. This mixture of textbook and review is aimed at the newcomer to the field as well as at the specialist. Graduate students will find it useful for additional reading.