The Invention of Nature

A Note on Humboldt’s Publications

The chronology of Alexander von Humboldt’s publications is still muddled today. Not even Humboldt himself knew exactly what was published when and in which language. It doesn’t help that some of the books were published in different formats and editions, or as part of a series, but then also separately as single volumes. His publications related to Latin American became the thirty-four-volume Voyage to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, illustrated with 1,500 engravings. As a reference, I have compiled a list of the publications that are referred to throughout The Invention of Nature, but I have not listed his specialized publications on botany, zoology, astronomy etc.

Publications that were part of the thirty-four-volume ‘Voyage to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent’

Essay on the Geography of Plants

This was the first volume that Humboldt completed after his return from Latin America. It was originally published in German as Ideen zu einer Geographie der Pflanzen and in French as Essai sur la géographie des plantes – both in 1807. The Essay introduced Humboldt’s ideas on plant distribution and nature as a web of life. It was illustrated with the large three-foot-by-two-foot hand-coloured fold-out, his so-called ‘Naturgemälde’ – the mountain with plants placed according to their altitude as well as the columns to the left and to the right with additional information on gravity, atmospheric pressure, temperature, chemical composition and so on. Humboldt dedicated the Essay to his old friend Goethe. It was published in Spanish in the South American journal Semanario in 1809 but never translated into English until 2009.

Views of Nature

This was Humboldt’s favourite book, combining scientific information with poetic landscape descriptions. It was divided into chapters such as ‘Steppes and Deserts’ or ‘Cataracts of the Orinoco’. It was first published in Germany in early 1808 and followed in the same year by a French translation. Views of Nature went through several editions. The third and extended edition was published on Humboldt’s eightieth birthday on 14 September 1849. The same edition was published in English in two competing translations under two titles: Aspects of Nature (1849) and Views of Nature (1850).

Vues des Cordillères et monumens des peuples indigènes de l’Amérique

These two volumes were the most lavish of Humboldt’s publications. They contained sixty-nine engravings of Chimborazo, Inca ruins, Aztec manuscripts and Mexican calendars – of which twenty-three were coloured. Vues des Cordillères was published in Paris in seven instalments between 1810 and 1813 as a large folio edition. Depending on the paper quality the price was either 504 francs or 764 francs. Only two of the instalments were translated into German in 1810. Like Personal Narrative, the English translation of Vues des Cordillères was done by Helen Maria Williams and overseen by Humboldt. It was published in Britain in 1814 as a less monumental two-volume octavo edition which included all the text but only twenty engravings. The English title was Researches concerning the Institutions & Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America with Descriptions & Views of some of the most Striking Scenes in the Cordilleras! – the exclamation mark was part of the title.

Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent during the years 1799–1804

Humboldt’s seven-volume travel account of the expedition in Latin America was part travelogue, part science book, following Humboldt’s and Bonpland’s voyage chronologically. Humboldt never finished it. The last volume ended with their arrival at the Río Magdalena on 20 April 1801 – not even half of the expedition. It was first published in France in a quarto edition under the title Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent fit en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804 (with volumes published from 1814 to 1831) and then followed by a smaller and much cheaper octavo edition (1816–31). Prices ranged from 7 francs to 234 francs per volume. Depending on the edition, it was also sold as a three-volume publication. It was almost immediately published in England as Personal Narrative (1814–29), translated by Helen Maria Williams who lived in Paris and who worked closely with Humboldt. In 1852 a new English edition (an unauthorized translation by Thomasina Ross) was published. Also unauthorized was the German translation which was published between 1818 and 1832. On 20 January 1840 Humboldt told his German publisher that he had never even seen the German edition, and later – once he had read it – complained that the translation was terrible.

Confusingly, the last volume was also published as a separate book as Essai politique sur l’île de Cuba in 1826 – translated as Political Essay on the Island of Cuba.

Political Essay on the Island of Cuba

Humboldt’s detailed account of Cuba was first published in French in 1826 as Essai politique sur l’île de Cuba and as part of Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent fit en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804 (or Personal Narrative in English). It was densely packed with information on climate, agriculture, ports, demographics as well as economic data such as import and exports – including Humboldt’s scathing criticism of slavery. It was also translated into Spanish in 1827. The first English translation (by J.S. Thrasher) was published in the United States in 1856 and did not include Humboldt’s chapter on slavery.

Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain

Humboldt’s portrait of the Spanish colonies was based on his own observations but also his archival research in Mexico City. Like the Political Essay on the Island of Cuba, it was a handbook of facts, hard data and statistics. Humboldt wove together information on geography, plants, agriculture, manufacturing and mines but also on demographics and economics. It was first published in French as Essai politique sur le royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne between 1808 and 1811 (in two volumes as a quarto edition and five volumes for the octavo edition). It went through several updated editions. A German translation was published between 1809 and 1814. The English translation was completed in 1811 as Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain in four volumes. A Spanish translation was published in 1822.

Other Publications

Fragmens de géologie et de climatologie asiatiques

Following his Russia expedition, Humboldt published Fragmens de géologie et de climatologie asiatique in 1831 – much of it was based on lectures he did in Paris between October 1830 and January 1831. As the title says, it was a book that presented Humboldt’s observations on the geology and climate of Asia. It was a preliminary publication to the longer Asie centrale which followed in 1843. The book was published in Germany as Fragmente einer Geologie und Klimatologie Asiens in 1832 but never translated into English.

Asie centrale, recherches sur les chaînes de montagnes et la climatogie comparée

Humboldt published the fuller results of his Russian expedition in spring 1843 in French in three volumes. Note the word ‘comparée’ in the title – everything was based on comparison. Asie centrale brought together up-to-date information about the geology and climate of Asia, including detailed accounts of the mountain ranges in Russia, Tibet and China. A reviewer in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society called it ‘the most prominent work on geography which has appeared during the last year’. Humboldt dedicated the book to Tsar Nicholas I but resented it. ‘It had to be done,’ he told a friend, because the expedition had been financed by the tsar. The German translation was published in 1844 as Central-Asien. Untersuchungen über die Gebirgsketten und die vergleichende Klimatologie, and included more and newer research than the earlier French edition. Humboldt was surprised that Asie centrale was never translated into English. It was strange, he said, that the British were so obsessed with Cosmos when the ‘owners of East India’ should have been more interested in Asie centrale and its information about the Himalaya.

Cosmos

Humboldt worked for more than two decades on Cosmos. It was first published in German as Kosmos. Entwurf einer physischen Weltgeschichte. Originally planned as a two-volume publication, it eventually became five, published between 1845 and 1862. It was Humboldt’s ‘Book of Nature’, the culmination of his working life and loosely based on his Berlin lectures in 1827–8. The first volume was a journey through the external world, from nebulae and stars, to volcanoes, plants and humans. The second volume was a voyage of the mind through human history from ancient Greeks to modern times. The last three volumes were more specialized scientific tomes that didn’t appeal to the general readership that had been attracted by the first two volumes.

The first two volumes were huge bestsellers and by 1851 Cosmos had been translated into ten languages. In Britain three competing editions appeared almost at the same time – but only the one translated by Elizabeth J.L. Sabine and published by John Murray was authorized by Humboldt (and only the first four volumes were translated). By 1850, the first volume of Sabine’s translation was already in the seventh edition and the second in the eighth edition. By 1849, some 40,000 English copies had been sold. In Germany several smaller and cheaper editions were published just before and after Humboldt’s death – they were affordable for a broad readership and comparable to today’s paperbacks.