The Malay Archipelago : the land of the Orang-Utan, and the Bird of Paradise

A narrative of travel with studies of man and nature. London : Macmillan and Co., 1869. Volume one : Second edition; volume two : first edition. A mixed set. Two volumes, octavo, gilt-decorated green cloth (edges a little rubbed, short tears to head and foot of spines, hinges cracked), pp. xx; 312; iv; 524; engravings and folding maps, previous owner’s name to endpaper of the first volume. An attractive and presentable mixed set of the first and second editions, in uniform condition.

Note : As the line spacing was reduced for the second edition there is some overlap in the text of this mixed set. Volume one (the second edition) ends with Chapter XXIII and Volume two (the first edition) begins with this chapter. There were no revisions to the text of the first and second editions.

One of the great travel narratives of the nineteenth century.

In 1854 Wallace sailed for the Malay regions after a previous expedition had taken him to the Amazon. Wallace travelled in search for exotic species and the study of foreign people, a journey which would last for eight years. In 1858, he was struck by the biological theory of natural selection, and wrote a highly significant paper on the subject, which he sent to Charles Darwin. Wallace’s theories on natural selection were developed in tandem with Darwin’s, with Darwin incorporating a number of Wallace’s ideas into his own. First published the same year as this edition, Wallace’s Malay Archipelago is a significant and well written narrative of travel in South-East Asia and an important work in the history of the theory of evolution.