The Invention of Nature

‘discoverer of the New’: Bolívar to Madame Bonpland, 23 October 1823, Rippy and Brann 1947, p.701.

22

‘having lived several’: Goethe to Johann Peter Eckermann, 12 December 1828, Goethe Eckermann 1999, p.183.

23

Melbourne and Adelaide:

Melbourner Deutsche Zeitung

, 16 September 1869;

South Australian Advertiser

, 20 September 1869;

South Australian Register

, 22 September 1869;

Standard

, Buenos Aires, 19 September 1869;

Two Republics

, Mexico City, 19 September 1869;

New York Herald

, 1 October 1869;

Daily Evening Bulletin

, 2 November 1869.

24

‘Shakespeare of sciences’: Herman Trautschold, 1869, Roussanova 2013, p.45.

25

Alexandria, Egypt: Ibid.:

Die Gartenlaube

, no.43, 1869.

26

American celebrations:

Desert News

, 22 September 1869;

New York Herald

, 15 September 1869;

New York Times

, 15 September 1869;

Charleston Daily Courier

, 15 September 1869;

Philadelphia Inquirer

, 14 September 1869.

27

Cleveland and Syracuse:

New York Herald

, 15 September 1869.

28

Pittsburgh:

Desert News

, 22 September 1869.

29

‘whose fame no nation’ and New York celebrations:

New York Times

, 15 September 1869;

New York Herald

, 15 September 1869.

30

‘as standing on’: Franz Lieber,

New York Times

, 15 September 1869.

31

an ‘inner correlation’:

Norddeutsches Protestantenblatt

, Bremen, 11 September 1869; Glogau, Heinrich, ‘Akademische Festrede zur Feier des Hundertjährigen Geburtstages Alexander’s von Humboldt, 14 September 1869’, Glogau 1869, p.11; Agassiz, Louis, ‘Address Delivered on the Centennial Anniversary of the Birth of Alexander von Humboldt 1869’, Agassiz 1869, pp.5, 48; Herman Trautschold, 1869, Roussanova 2013, p.50;

Philadelphia Inquirer

, 15 September 1869; Humboldt Commemorations, 2 June 1859,

Journal of American Geological and Statistical Society

, 1859, vol.1, p.226.

32

‘one of those wonders’: Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1869, Emerson 1960–92, vol.16, p.160; Agassiz 1869, p.71.

33

‘in some sort’:

Daily News

, London, 14 September 1869.

34

German celebrations: Jahn 2004, pp.18–28.

35

Berlin:

Illustrirte Zeitung Berlin

, 2 October 1869;

Vossische Zeitung

, 15 September 1869;

Allgemeine Zeitung Augsburg

, 17 September 1869.

36

AH’s name across the world: Oppitz 1969, pp.281–427.

37

Nevada called Humboldt: The decision was between Washoe, Esmeralda, Nevada and Humboldt; Oppitz 1969, p.290.

38

more places named after AH: Egerton 2012, p.121.

39

‘as a natural whole’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.45; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.52.

40

‘Gäa’ as title: AH to Karl August Varnhagen, 24 October 1834, Humboldt Varnhagen Letters 1860, p.18.

41

‘the clearest way’: Wolfe 1979, p.313.

Chapter 1: Beginnings

1

AH family: AH, Meine Bekenntnisse, 1769–1805, Biermann 1987, p.50ff.; Beck 1959–61, vol.1, p.3ff.; Geier 2010, p.16ff.

2

AH’s godfather: This was Prince Friedrich Wilhelm who became King Friedrich Wilhelm II in 1786.

3

unhappy childhood: AH to Carl Freiesleben, 5 June 1792, AH Letters 1973, p.191ff.; WH to CH, April 1790, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.1, p.134.

4

character AH’s parents: Frau von Briest, 1785, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.1, p.55.

5

Kunth’s teaching: WH to CH, 2 April 1790, ibid., pp.115–16; Geier 2010, p.22ff.; Beck 1959–61, vol.1, p.6ff.

6

‘perpetual anxiety’: WH to CH, 2 April 1790, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.1, p.115.

7

‘were doubtful whether’: AH to Carl Freiesleben, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.31; and AH, Aus Meinem Leben (1769–1850), in Biermann 1987, p.50.

8

WH and ancient Greek: Geier 2010, p.29.

9

‘the little apothecary’: Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.20; Beck 1959–61, vol.1, p.10.

10

‘Yes, Sir, but with’: Walls 2009, p.15.

11

‘intellectual and moral’: Kunth about Marie Elisabeth von Humboldt, Beck 1959–61, vol.1, p.6.

12

‘I was forced into’: AH to Carl Freiesleben, 5 June 1792, AH Letters 1973, p.192.

13

AH and WH different: WH to CH, 9 October 1804, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.2, p.260.

14

WH character: WH 1903–36, vol.15, p.455.

15

North American trees at Tegel: AH to Carl Freiesleben, 5 June 1792, AH Letters 1973, p.191; Bruhns 1873, vol.3, pp.12–13.

16

nature was soothing: AH to WH, 19 May 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.116.

17

AH’s height: AH’s passport on leaving Paris in 1798, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.394.

18

AH slight and nimble: Karoline Bauer, 1876, Clark and Lubrich 2012, p.199; AH’s hands, Louise von Bornstedt, 1856, Beck 1959, p.385.

19

a ‘kind of hypochondria’: WH to CH, 2 April 1790, p.116; see also WH to CH, 3 June 1791, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.1, pp.116, 477; for illnesses, see AH to Wilhelm Gabriel Wegener, 24, 25, 27 February 1789 and 5 June 1790, AH Letters 1973, pp.39, 92.

20