The Invention of Nature

AH wrote to king: AH, Aus Meinem Leben (1769–1850), in Biermann 1987, p.113.

Chapter 11: Paris

1

tormented by not being fast: AH to Goethe, 3 January 1810, Goethe Humboldt Letters 1909, p.305; see also AH to Franz Xaver von Zach, 14 May 1806, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.360.

2

‘melancholy’ and other excuses: AH to Johann Friedrich von Cotta, 6 June 1807, 13 November 1808, 11 December 1812, AH Cotta Letters 2009, pp.81, 94, 115.

3

‘any botanist in Europe’: AH to Bonpland, 7 September 1810, AH Bonpland Letters 2004, p.57; see also Fiedler and Leitner 2000, p.251.

4

Vues des Cordillères

:

Vues des Cordillères

was published in seven instalments from 1810 to 1813.

5

‘Nature and art’: AH to Goethe, 3 January 1810, Goethe Humboldt Letters 1909, p.304; see also Goethe, 18 January 1810, Goethe Diary 1998–2007, vol.4, pt.1, p.111.

6

Vues

received by courier: Goethe, 18 January 1810, Goethe Diary 1998–2007, vol.4, pt.1, p.111.

7

Goethe and

Vues

: Goethe, 18, 19, 20 and 21 January 1810, Goethe Diary 1998–2007, vol.4, pt.2, pp.111–12.

8

AH queries: For example David Warden to AH, 9 May 1809, AH Letters USA 2004, p.111; AH to Alexander von Rennenkampff, 7 January 1812, Biermann 1987, p.196.

9

‘great worthies of’: Jefferson to AH, 13 June 1817, Terra 1959, p.795.

10

AH’s books to Jefferson: Jefferson to AH, 6 March 1809, 14 April 1811, 6 December 1813; AH to Jefferson, 12 June 1809, 23 September 1810, 20 December 1811; William Gray to Jefferson, 18 May 1811, TJ RS Papers, vol.1, pp.24, 266, vol.3, pp.108, 553, 623, vol.4, pp.353–4, vol.7, p.29; AH to Jefferson, 30 May 1808, Terra 1959, p.789.

11

AH and Joseph Banks: AH to Banks, 15 November 1800; Bonpland to Banks, 20 February 1810; Banks to James Edward Smith, 2 February 1815 (requesting a specimen of the mauritia palm for AH); Banks to Charles Bladgen, 28 February 1815, Banks 2007, vol.5, pp.63ff.; vol.6, pp. 27–8; 164–5; 171; AH to Banks, 23 February 1805, BL Add Ms 8099 ff.391–2; AH to Banks, 10 July 1809, BL Add Ms 8100 ff.43–4.

12

‘three different houses’: Adelbert von Chamisso to Eduard Hitzig, 16 February 1810, Beck 1959, p.37; AH to Marc-Auguste Pictet, March 1808, Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.6; Caspar Voght, 16 March 1808, Voght 1959–65, vol.3, p.95.

13

AH and Kunth (footnote): AH to Johann Georg von Cotta, 14 April 1850, AH Cotta Letters 2009, p.430; see also Biermann 1990, p.183.

14

so-called ‘garret-hours’: Carl Vogt, January 1845, Beck 1959, p.206.

15

Arago’s scientific mission: ‘An Autobiography of Francis Arago’, Arago 1857 p.12ff.

16

‘malicious tongue’: Arago about AH, Biermann and Schwarz 2001b, no page numbers.

17

‘sulking like a child’: Adolphe Quetelet, 1822, Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.58.

18

‘Siamese twins’: AH to Arago, 31 December 1841, AH Arago Letters 1907, p.224.

19

‘joy of my life’: AH to Arago, 31 July 1848, ibid., p.290.

20

‘You know his passion’: WH to CH, 1 November 1817, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.6, p.30.

21

‘Alexander could have’: WH to CH, 14 January 1809, ibid., vol.3, p.70.

22

WH and his patriotic duty: Geier 2010, p.272.

23

‘stopped being German’: WH to CH, 3 December 1817, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.6, p.64; see also WH to CH, 6 December 1813 and 8 November 1817, ibid., vol.4, p.188 and vol.6., pp.43–4.

24

AH no intentions to go to Berlin: WH to CH, 10 July 1810, ibid., vol.3, p.433.

25

‘You are interested in botany’: Napoleon to AH, recounted by Goethe to Friedrich von Müller, Müller Diary, 28 May 1825, Goethe AH WH Letters 1876, p353.

26

‘opinion cannot be bent’: Humboldt Commemorations, 2 June 1859,

Journal of American Geological and Statistical Society

, 1859, vol.1, p.235.

27

AH sent publications to Napoleon: Podach 1959, pp.198, 201–2.

28

‘hates me’: AH after an audience with Napoleon, 1804, Beck 1959–61, vol.2, p.2.

29

scientists as politicians in France: Serres 1995, p.431.

30

Description de l’Egypte

and AH: Krätz 1999a, p.113.

31

Napoleon read AH’s books: Beck 1959–61, vol.2, p.16.

32

secret police, bribed valet, room searched: Daudet 1912, pp.295–365; Krätz 1999a, p.113.

33

undercover report: George Monge’s report, 4 March 1808: Podach 1959, p.200.

34

Napoleon, AH and Chaptal: Podach 1959, p.200ff.

35

breakfast Café Procope: Carl Vogt, January 1845, Beck 1959, p.207.

36

‘chez Monsieur de Humboldt’: Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.89.

37

‘idol of Paris society’: George Ticknor, April 1817, AH Letters USA 2004, p.516.

38

AH everywhere: Konrad Engelbert Oelsner to Friedrich August von Stägemann, 28 August 1819, Päßler 2009, p.12.

39

‘at home on every’: John Thornton Kirkland, 28 May 1821, Beck 1959, p.69.

40

‘drunken with his love’: Caspar Voght, 16 March 1808, Voght 1959–65, vol.3, p.95.

41

AH met artists and thinkers: Krätz 1999a, pp.116–17; Clark and Lubrich 2012, pp.10–14.

42

‘layer of ice’: Fräulein von R., October–November 1812, Beck 1959, p.42.

43

AH’s gentle voice: Roderick Murchison, May 1859, ibid., p.3.

44

‘will-o’-the-wisp’: Karoline Bauer, My Life on Stage, 1876, Clark and Lubrich 2012, p.199.

45