Universally acknowledged as the classic text about statistics of extremes, this volume is geared toward use by statisticians and statistically minded scientists and engineers. It employs elementary terms to explain applications, favors graphical procedures over calculations, and presents simple generalizations as exercises -- all of which contribute to its value for students. Starting with definitions of its aims and tools, the text proceeds to discussions of order statistics and their exceedances, exact distribution of extremes, and analytical study of extremes. Additional topics include the first asymptotic distribution; uses of the first, second, and third asymptotes; and the range. 1958 edition. 44 tables. 97 graphs.