The Invention of Nature

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.

Sources and Bibliography

The Works of Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt und August Böckh. Briefwechsel, ed. Romy Werther and Eberhard Knobloch, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2011

Alexander von Humboldt et Aimé Bonpland. Correspondance 1805–1858

, ed. Nicolas Hossard, Paris: L’Harmattan, 2004

Alexander von Humboldt und Cotta. Briefwechsel, ed. Ulrike Leitner, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2009

Alexander von Humboldt. Johann Franz Encke. Briefwechsel, ed. Ingo Schwarz, Oliver Schwarz and Eberhard Knobloch, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2013

Alexander von Humboldt. Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Briefwechsel, ed. Ulrike Leitner, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2013

Alexander von Humboldt. Familie Mendelssohn. Briefwechsel, ed. Sebastian Panwitz and Ingo Schwarz, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2011

Alexander von Humboldt und Carl Ritter. Briefwechsel, ed. Ulrich Päßler, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2010

Alexander von Humboldt. Samuel Heinrich Spiker. Briefwechsel, ed. Ingo Schwarz, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2007