# Is "The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise" by Alfred Russel Wallace a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise by Alfred Russel Wallace (Macmillan and Co., 1869) is identified by: The true first edition was published in spring 1869 in two octavo volumes, bound in original gilt-stamped green cloth, with publisher's advertisements dated December 1868 bound into volume I. The Macmillan London edition (two volumes, spring 1869) is the first edition, preceding the first American edition from Harper & Brothers of New York, issued in a single volume the same year.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first edition was published in spring 1869 in two octavo volumes, bound in original gilt-stamped green cloth, with publisher's advertisements dated December 1868 bound into volume I. A reprint explicitly marked 'Second Edition' on the title page, also in two volumes, followed later the same year; genuine first-edition copies carry no edition statement on the title page
- The work recounts Wallace's eight years (1854-1862) of travel and natural-history collecting across the Malay Archipelago, during which he arrived independently at the theory of natural selection while feverish on the island of Ternate in February 1858
- Publisher imprint reads Macmillan and Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Publisher | Macmillan and Co. |
| Year | 1869 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first edition was published in spring 1869 in two octavo volumes, bound in original gilt-stamped green cloth, with publisher's… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The true first edition was published in spring 1869 in two octavo volumes, bound in original gilt-stamped green cloth, with publisher's advertisements dated December 1868 bound into volume I. A reprint explicitly marked 'Second Edition' on the title page, also in two volumes, followed later the same year; genuine first-edition copies carry no edition statement on the title page. The work recounts Wallace's eight years (1854-1862) of travel and natural-history collecting across the Malay Archipelago, during which he arrived independently at the theory of natural selection while feverish on the island of Ternate in February 1858.

## Is this the true first?
The Macmillan London edition (two volumes, spring 1869) is the first edition, preceding the first American edition from Harper & Brothers of New York, issued in a single volume the same year.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A reprint dated the same year, 1869, is explicitly labeled 'Second Edition' on its title page; true first-edition volumes carry no edition statement at all, which remains the simplest way to distinguish the two printings.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise* by Alfred Russel Wallace a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-malay-archipelago-the-land-of-the-orang-utan-and-the-bir
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.