The Malay Archipelago

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 â€" 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection His paper on the subject was jointly published with some of Darwin's writings in 1858This prompted Darwin to publish On the Origin of Species

Like Darwin, Wallace did extensive fieldwork; first in the Amazon, and then in the Malay Archipelago, where he identified the faunal divide now termed the Wallace Line, which separates the Indonesian archipelago into two distinct parts: a western portion in which the animals are largely of Asian origin, and an eastern portion where the fauna reflect Australasia

This 2 volume set is the second edition, 1869, of his seminal work in the Malay Archipelago

Includes half-titles, and one folding color map only (of 2, lacking the Physical Map in vol1), wood-engraved plates, other maps and illustrations, the advertisement leaf at end of vol2 It has occasional spotting or soiling The hinges of vol2 are weak, the end papers of vol1 have been renewed It is bound in the original pictorial green cloth, gilt picture of an orangutan on the covers and gilt titles on the spines A little rubbed and marked, slight staining to spines No bookplates, labels or markings except light penciled name of previous owner on half title in vol 1 8vo,

Overall, a very good, clean copy of one of the most important works of this evolutionary biologist second only to Darwin