The Geographical Distribution of Animals, With a Study of the Relations of Living and Extinct Faunas as Elucidating the Past Changes of the Earth's Surface

New York: Harper and Brothers, 1876. First American Edition. Hardcover. Good. Two volumes in original brown cloth decorated in gilt, pp xxi, 503; viii, 607, with 2 pp. ads at rear of the second volume; 7 color lithographs maps (1 folding, 2 double-page) and 20 plates. Ex-library, with no external markings beyond slight evidence of labels removed from lower spines, but discard markings on half title and title pages. Moderate rubbing and general wear to boards on both volumes, Volume I with creasing to spine cloth and splitting of cloth along the front joint. Otherwise sound, internally clean, and complete. "Considered the nineteenth century's leading expert on the geographical distribution of animals, Wallace carried out extensive fieldwork in areas as diverse as North and South America, Africa, China, India and Australia 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.... [T]his two-volume 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. Volume 2 explores the distribution of primates, the habitats and characteristics of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects, and patterns of migration" (Cambridge Edition).