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. Second edition. Two volumes, octavo, gilt-decorated green cloth (rebacked, preserving the spines, corners bumped, edges rubbed), new endpapers, name to half-titles, tear to title leaf with residue from old tape repair, pp. xx; 312; 341; engraving and folding maps, a good set.

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.