Books

Malay Archipelago The Land of the Orang-Utan, and the Bird of Paradise. Alfred Russel Wallace. London, Macmillian, 1869. First Edition, Fine Condition. Two volumes, 8Vo. Publisher's original green cloth, the spine and covers with decorative gilt. Pages: xxiii, 478, [2], 51, [1]. Vol 2, [4], 524. Consisting of: two frontispiece, six engraved plates, nine maps (2 folded), forty three illustrations in the text body, fifty four pages of advertisements with the early date of Dec. 1868. The covers are in Fine condition. The gilt is bright and not showing any wear. The only shelf wear is the bottom cover of volume one shows the slightest bit of scuffing from being pulled from a shelf. Both volumes front endpapers have the interesting bookplates of Robert Blagden Hale and Hale Aderley. The text block is a "Fine minus" because of the following: The title page of volume one has a spot of off-setting from the tissue guard (see photo). Page 20 upper left side has a faint finger smudge. Page 49…

The Malay Archipelago is an account of Wallace's expedition to the Malay Archipelago, providing a vivid description of the region's exotic wildlife and his thoughts on its biodiversity. It highlights his significant contributions to the formulation of the theory of evolution.