First edition; 8vo; original green cloth, upper covers and spines lettered in gilt, top edges gilt; 20 engraved plates and seven coloured maps. Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) arrived independently at the theory of evolution. His joint paper with Darwin was presented to the Linnean Society in 1858. Wallace was considered the nineteenth century's leading expert on the geographical distribution of animals, he carried out extensive fieldwork to document the habitats, breeding, migration and feeding behaviour of thousands of species around the world, and the influence of environmental conditions on their survival. This set presents Wallace's findings, and represents a landmark in the study of zoology, evolutionary biology and palaeontology which remains relevant to scholars in these fields today. A fine set with the bookplate of L. De Rothschild to the front paste down of both volumes.