Hi Paul,
I'll second Jeff's recommendation on the O'Meara book. The Herschel 400 book by James Mullaney and published by Springer only discusses some examples of each category of object as classified by Herschel originally. It is useful though to have the background from the latter book.
One way of getting the maps is to create a file to import into a popular planetarium program. For example, I can convert the Herschel list on the Saguaro Astronomy Club's site ( see
www.saguaroastro.org/content/Herschel-400-objects.htm
) and import it into Sky Map Pro. It will then let me generate charts. Wikipedia has a chart which plots the distribution of the objects on the sky at
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_400_Catalogue
I would be doubtful though that even giant binoculars are up to the task of bagging all 400. Jay Reynolds Freeman previously succeeded in seeing all 400 in a 60mm refractor but it required considerable skill. A number of the objects are 12th magnitude and have a small angular size. The low magnification of even giant binoculars will make seeking the Herschel 400 a difficult task regardless of their light grasp. I've Jay's article somewhere in an old Sky and Telescope about how he pursued the task with the scope ... let me know if you want me dig it out.
atb,
John
