Wallace (Alfred Russel) Palm Trees of the Amazon and their uses, first edition, presentation copy from the author, original cloth, 1853.

Wallace (Alfred Russel) Palm Trees of the Amazon and their uses, first edition, presentation copy from the author inscribed "George C.Silk from his sincere friend The Author" on front free endpaper, lithographed map & 47 plates by W.Fitch, some water-staining to plates (mostly marginal but affecting images of last few plates), original blind-stamped cloth, a little rubbed and affective by damp, [Nissen BBI 2097], 8vo, 1853.

⁂ The author's first book, of which only 250 copies were printed, and the result of four years' exploring and collecting specimens in the Amazon rainforest. Unfortunately the ship on which he was returning to England in 1852 caught fire and his specimens were lost; he managed to save only a few notes and sketches.

George Silk was Wallace's closest childhood friend. They met when Wallace's family move to Hertford when Wallace was five years old and remained friends all their lives.