# Is "The Malay Archipelago" by Alfred Russel Wallace a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Malay Archipelago 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. Macmillan issued a reprint from reset type, with reduced line-spacing and marked as a second edition on the title page, later the same year (1869); the true first carries no edition statement and retains the December 1868 advertisement leaves in volume I.

**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 | — |
| 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?
Macmillan issued a reprint from reset type, with reduced line-spacing and marked as a second edition on the title page, later the same year (1869); the true first carries no edition statement and retains the December 1868 advertisement leaves in volume I.

## 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* by Alfred Russel Wallace a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-malay-archipelago
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.