Alfred Russel Wallace, 1878

WALLACE, Alfred Russel (1823–1913). Tropical Nature and other Essays. London: Macmillan, 1878.

A very fine copy of the first edition of Wallace's exposition of natural selection; his reply to Darwin's theory of sexual selection as presented in Descent of Man (1871). Wallace conducted extensive field work in the tropics, and here proposes alternative explanations for several examples which Darwin attributed in the Descent to sexual selection. This critique occupies most of the second half of the volume, beginning with chapter five, "The Colours of Animals and Sexual Selection." Wallace concludes the work with a discussion of the origin of man and the distribution of animals as evidence of profound geological changes.

"In this study of tropical flora and fauna, he takes the reader on a tour of the equatorial forest belt – the almost continuous band of forest that stretches around the world between the tropics. There, chameleon-like caterpillars alter the colours of their cocoons, parasitical trees override their hosts with spectacular aerial root systems, and some of the most pressing questions of Victorian evolutionary science arise: how do animals and plants come to be brightly coloured? Can their adaptations provide clues about past geological eras? And was Darwin wholly correct in his theory of sexual selection? First published in 1878, Wallace's book is a skillfully written reflection of contemporary naturalism, still highly readable and relevant to students in the history of science" (Cambridge University Press). See Ross Slotten, The Heretic in Darwin's Court: The Life of Alfred Russel Wallace, 2004.

Octavo (225 x 139mm). Advertisement leaf at end. Original green cloth stamped in black, spine gilt-lettered (hint of wear to tips and spine ends).