by Andrea Wulf
That fountain, I believe, has never run dry.
Acknowledgements
During 2013, I was the British Library Eccles Writer in Residence. It was the most productive year I have ever had in my writing career. I loved every moment of it. Thank you to everybody at the Eccles Centre – in particular Philip Davis, Jean Petrovic and Cara Rodway, as well as Matt Shaw and Philip Hatfield at the British Library. Thank you!
Over the past few years, I have received so much assistance from so many people that I feel humbled by their generosity. Thank you all for making the research and writing of this book the most wonderful experience. So many shared their knowledge and research, read chapters, opened address books, followed up on my queries (many times) and made me welcome across the world – it made this a proper Humboldtian experience of global networks.
In Germany I would like to thank Ingo Schwarz, Eberhard Knobloch, Ulrike Leitner and Regina Mikosch at Humboldt Forschungstelle in Berlin; Thomas Bach at the Ernst-Haeckel Haus in Jena; Frank Holl at Münchner Wissenschaftstage in Munich; Ilona Haak-Macht at Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Direktion Museen/Abteilung Goethe-Nationalmuseum; Jürgen Hamel; and Karl-Heinz Werner.
In Britain I would like to thank Adam Perkins at the Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, University Library, Cambridge; Annie Kemkaran-Smith at Down House in Kent; Neil Chambers at the Sir Joseph Banks Archive Project at Nottingham Trent University; Richard Holmes; Rosemary Clarkson at the Darwin Correspondence Project; Jenny Wattrus for Spanish translations; Eleni Papavasileiou at the Library & Archive, SS Great Britain Trust; John Hemming; Terry Gifford and his ‘reading group’ of scholars from Bath University; Lynda Brooks at the Linnean Society; Keith Moore and the rest of the staff at the Royal Society Library and Archives, London; Crestina Forcina at the Wellcome Trust, and the staff at the British Library and London Library.
In the United States I would like to thank Michael Wurtz at Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library; Bill Swagerty at the John Muir Center, University at the Pacific; Ron Eber; Marie Arana; Keith Thomson at the American Philosophical Society; the staff at the New York Public Library; Leslie Wilson at the Concord Free Public Library; Jeff Cramer at the the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods; Matt Burne at the Walden Woods Project; David Wood, Adrienne Donohue and Margaret Burke at the Concord Museum; Kim Burns; Jovanka Ristic and Bob Jaeger at the American Geographical Society Library at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries; Sandra Rebok; Prudence Doherty at Special Collections Bailey/Howe Library at the University of Vermont; Eleanor Harvey at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Adam Goodheart at the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, Washington College. And at Monticello Anna Berkes, Endrina Tay, Christa Dierksheide, and Lisa Francavilla at the International Center for Jefferson Studies, the Jefferson Retirement Papers and the Jefferson Library; David Mattern at the Madison Retirement Papers at the University of Virginia; Aaron Sachs, Ernesto Bassi and the ‘Historians are Writers Group’ at Cornell University.
In South America I would like to thank Alberto Gómez Gutiérrez at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá; our guide Juanfe Duran Cassola in Ecuador and the staff at the archives of the Ministerio de Cultura y Patrimonio in Quito.
I am indebted to the following archives and libraries for their permission to quote from their manuscripts: the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; Royal Society, London; Concord Free Public Library, Concord MA; Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz; Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California © 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust; New York Public Library; British Library; Special Collections, University of Vermont.
I would like to thank the wonderful team at John Murray, including Georgina Laycock, Caroline Westmore, Nick Davies, Juliet Brightmore and Lyndsey Ng.
At Knopf I would like to thank an equally wonderful team, including Edward Kastenmeier, Emily Giglierano, Jessica Purcell and Sara Eagle.
A very special and massive thank you to my wonderful friend and agent Patrick Walsh, who has wanted me to write a book about Alexander von Humboldt for more than a decade, and who first took me to Venezuela ten years ago. You’ve worked so unbelievably hard on this – line by line. This would have been a very different book without you. And thank you for believing in me and for looking after me. Without you, I would have a lot less fun in life and be without a job.
And a huge thank you to my friends and family who patiently endured my Humboldt fever:
Leo Hollis who – as so many times before – channelled my ideas in the right direction and who summed it all up in one sentence. The title is on you!
My mother Brigitte Wulf has once again helped me with French translations and schlepped books from and to libraries in Germany for me, while my father Herbert Wulf read all the chapters in several versions. And thank you for coming to Weimar and Jena.
Constanze von Unruh worked again through the entire manuscript – leading me with honesty, cleverness and encouragement through this book. Thank you for everything and all those evenings.
Many of my friends and family have read draft chapters – editing, commenting and suggesting; thank you Robert Rowland Smith, John Jungclaussen, Rebecca Bernstein and Regan Ralph. A special thank you for Regan who is the most fabulous friend and who has given me a second home – as well as coming with me to Yosemite. Thank you so much. I would also like to thank Hermann and Sigrid Düringer for letting me stay in their beautiful flat in Berlin during my research there, and to my brother Axel Wulf for information on barometers, as well as Anne Wigger for help on Faust. A big thank you to Lisa O’Sullivan who has been a great supporter and friend … and who looked after me with steely determination when I was stranded in her apartment in New York during Hurricane Sandy. You’re now a certified member of my apocalyptic team.
The biggest thank you goes to my super-smart best and oldest friend Julia-Niharika Sen who worked through the entire manuscript, word by word, again and again – taking it apart and then helping me to put it together again. And thank you for coming with me to Ecuador and Venezuela – spending your holidays following Humboldt’s footsteps. Instead of beaches and cocktails, there were tarantulas and altitude sickness. Standing together with you at 5,000 metres on Chimborazo was one of the best moments of my life. We did it! Thank you for being there. Always. I could have not written this book without you.
This book is dedicated to my wonderful and clever daughter Linnéa who had to live with Humboldt for a long time. Thank you for being the best of all daughters. You make me complete. And happy.
Illustration Credits
Illustrations within the text
© Alamy: 2.3, 12.2/Interfoto; 14.2/Heritage Image Partnership Ltd; 17.2/Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library. René Binet, Esquisses Décoratives (c.1905): 22.4 left. © bpk/Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: 15.2. Catalogue souvenir de l’Exposition Universelle 1900 Paris: 22.2 left. © Collection of Museo Nacional de Colombia/Registro1204/photo Oscar Monsalve: 7.2/Alexander von Humboldt, Geografia de las plantas cerca del Ecuador (1803). Courtesy of Concord Museum, Massachusetts: 19.1, 19.2. Ernst-Haeckel-Haus, Jena: 22.1. Herman Klencke, Alexander von Humboldt’s Leben und Wirken, Reisen und Wissen (1870):1.1, 3.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 7.1, 16.1, 16.2, 20.4. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: 3.2, 8.2, 21.1, 23.4. By permission of the Linnean Society of London: 3.1/Martin Hendriksen Vahl, Symbolae Botanicae (1790–4); 22.3 right, 22.5 right/Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur (1899–1904). Benjamin C. Maxham: 19.3/daguerreotype, 1856. Ministerio de Cultura del Ecuador, Quito: 3.4. John Muir Papers/Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library, Stockton, California © 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust and courtesy of The Bancroft Library/University of California, Berkeley: 23.1, 23.2, 23.3. Private Collections: 4.3, 9.1, 20.3. © Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin: 10.1. Wellcome Library, London: prl.img1, 4.2, 7.3, 8.1, 12.1/Alexander von Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, 2 vols (1810–
13); prl.img2/Heinrich Berghaus, The Physical Atlas (1845); 1.2; 1.3/Alexander von Humboldt, Versuch über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser (1797); 2.1; 2.2; 4.1; 6.1, 6.2, 8.3/Alcide D. d’Orbingy, Voyage pittoresque dans les deux Amériques (1836); 9.2; 9.3; 9.4; 10.2; 11.1; 13.1, 14.1, 20.3/Traugott Bromme, Atlas zu Alex. v. Humboldt’s Kosmos (1851); 13.2; 15.1; 16.3; 17.1/Charles Darwin, Journal of Researches (1902); 17.3/Charles Darwin, Journal of Researches (1845); 18.1; 20.1/E.T. Hamy, Aimé Bonpland, médecin et naturaliste, explorateur de l’Amérique du Sud (1906); 20.2.
Colour plates
© Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin: ins.5 above/akg-images. © Alamy: ins.6 below/Stocktreck Images Inc; ins.11 below/FineArt; ins.13 below/Pictorial Press Ltd; ins.15 below/World History Archive. © bpk/Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg: ins.12 above/photo Gerhard Murza. © Humboldt-Universität Berlin: ins.7/Alexander von Humboldt, Geographie der Pflanzen in den Tropen-Ländern, ein Naturgemälde der Anden (1807), photo Bridgeman Images. By permission of the Linnean Society of London: ins.14 above/Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur (1899–1904). Wellcome Library, London: ins.1, ins.3, ins.8 above/Alexander von Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères (1810–13); ins.9 below/Traugott Bromme, Atlas zu Alex. v. Humboldt’s Kosmos (1851); ins.10 above/Heinrich Berghaus, The Physical Atlas (1845).
Notes
Abbreviations: People and Archives
AH: Alexander von Humboldt
BL: British Library, London
Caroline Marsh Journal, NYPL: Crane family papers. Manuscripts and Archives Division. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
CH: Caroline von Humboldt
CUL: Scientific Manuscripts Collections, Department of Manuscripts & University Archives, University Library, Cambridge
DLC: Library of Congress, Washington DC
JM online: Online collection of John Muir Papers. Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, ©1984 Muir-Hanna Trust
MHT: Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library, Stockton, California, © 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust
NYPL: New York Public Library
RS: Royal Society, London
Stabi Berlin NL AH: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Nachl. Alexander von Humboldt (Humboldt Manuscript Collection)
TJ: Thomas Jefferson
UVM: George Perkins Marsh Collection, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library
WH: Wilhelm von Humboldt
Abbreviations: The Works of Alexander von Humboldt
AH Althaus Memoirs 1861: Briefwechsel und Gespräche Alexander von Humboldt’s mit einem jungen Freunde, aus den Jahren 1848 bis 1856
AH Ansichten 1808: Ansichten der Natur mit wissenschaftlichen Erläuterungen
AH Ansichten 1849: Ansichten der Natur mit wissenschaftlichen Erläuterungen, third and extended edition
AH Arago Letters 1907: Correspondance d’Alexandre de Humboldt avec François Arago (1809–1853)
AH Aspects 1849: Aspects of Nature, in Different Lands and Different Climates, with Scientific Elucidations
AH Berghaus Letters 1863: Briefwechsel Alexander von Humboldt’s mit Heinrich Berghaus aus den Jahren 1825 bis 1858
AH Bessel Letters 1994: Briefwechsel zwischen Alexander von Humboldt und Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel
AH Böckh Letters 2011: Alexander von Humboldt und August Böckh. Briefwechsel
AH Bonpland Letters 2004: Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland. Correspondance 1805–1858
AH Bunsen Letters 2006: Briefe von Alexander von Humboldt and Christian Carl Josias Bunsen
AH Central Asia 1844: Central-Asien. Untersuchungen über die Gebirgsketten und die vergleichende Klimatologie
AH Cordilleras 1814: Researches concerning the Institutions & Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America with Descriptions & Views of some of the most Striking Scenes in the Cordilleras!
AH Cordilleren 1810: Pittoreske Ansichten der Cordilleren und Monumente americanischer Völker
AH Cosmos 1845–52: Cosmos: Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe
AH Cosmos 1878: Muir’s copy of Cosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe
AH Cosmos Lectures 2004: Alexander von Humboldt. Die Kosmos–Vorträge 1827/28
AH Cotta Letters 2009: Alexander von Humboldt und Cotta. Briefwechsel
AH Cuba 2011: Political Essay on the Island of Cuba. A Critical Edition
AH Diary 1982: Lateinamerika am Vorabend der Unabhängigkeitsrevolution: eine Anthologie von Impressionen und Urteilen aus seinen Reisetagebüchern
AH Diary 2000: Reise durch Venezuela. Auswahl aus den Amerikanischen Reisetagebüchern
AH Diary 2003: Reise auf dem Río Magdalena, durch die Anden und Mexico
AH Dirichlet Letters 1982: Briefwechsel zwischen Alexander von Humboldt und P.G. Lejeune Dirichlet
AH du Bois-Reymond Letters 1997: Briefwechsel zwischen Alexander von Humboldt und Emil du Bois-Reymond
AH Fragments Asia 1832: Fragmente einer Geologie und Klimatologie Asiens
AH Friedrich Wilhelm IV Letters 2013: Alexander von Humboldt. Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Briefwechsel
AH Gauß Letters 1977: Briefwechsel zwischen Alexander von Humboldt und Carl Friedrich Gauß
AH Geography 1807: Ideen zu einer Geographie der Pflanzen nebst einem Naturgemälde der Tropenländer
AH Geography 2009: Essay on the Geography of Plants
AH Kosmos 1845–50: Kosmos. Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung
AH Letters 1973: Die Jugendbriefe Alexander von Humboldts 1787–1799
AH Letters America 1993: Briefe aus Amerika 1799–1804
AH Letters Russia 2009: Briefe aus Russland 1829
AH Letters USA 2004: Alexander von Humboldt und die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika. Briefwechsel
AH Mendelssohn Letters 2011: Alexander von Humboldt. Familie Mendelssohn. Briefwechsel
AH New Spain 1811: Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain
AH Personal Narrative 1814–29: Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent during the years 1799–1804
AH Personal Narrative 1907: Muir’s copy of Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent during the years 1799–1804
AH Schumacher Letters 1979: Briefwechsel zwischen Alexander von Humboldt und Heinrich Christian Schumacher
AH Spiker Letters 2007: Alexander von Humboldt. Samuel Heinrich Spiker. Briefwechsel
AH Varnhagen Letters 1860: Letters of Alexander von Humboldt to Varnhagen von Ense
AH Views 1896: Muir’s copy of Views of Nature
AH Views 2014: Views of Nature
AH WH Letters 1880: Briefe Alexander’s von Humboldt und seinen Bruder Wilhelm
Terra 1959: ‘Alexander von Humboldt’s Correspondence with Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin’
Abbreviations: General
Darwin Beagle Diary 2001: Beagle Diary
Darwin Correspondence: The Correspondence of Charles Darwin
Goethe AH WH Letters 1876: Goethe’s Briefwechsel mit den Gebrüdern von Humboldt
Goethe Correspondence 1968–76: Goethes Briefe
Goethe Diary 1998–2007: Johann Wolfgang Goethe: Tagebücher
Goethe Eckermann 1999: Johannn Peter Eckermann, Gespräche mit Goethe in den Letzten Jahren seines Lebens
Goethe Encounters 1965–2000: Goethe Begegnungen und Gespräche, ed. Ernst Grumach and Renate Grumach
Goethe Humboldt Letters 1909: Goethes Briefwechsel mit Wilhelm und Alexander v. Humboldt, ed. Ludwig Geiger
Goethe Letters 1980–2000: Briefe an Goethe, Gesamtausgabe in Regestform, ed. Karl Heinz Hahn
Goethe Morphologie 1987: Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Schriften zur Morphologie
Goethe Natural Science 1989: Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Schriften zur Allgemeinen Naturlehre, Geologie und Mineralogie, ed. Wolf von Engelhardt and Manfred Wenzel
Goethe’s Da
y 1982–96: Goethes Leben von Tag zu Tag: Eine Dokumentarische Chronik, ed. Robert Steiger
Goethe’s Year 1994: Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Tag- und Jahreshefte, ed. Irmtraut Schmid
Haeckel Bölsche Letters 2002: Ernst Haeckel–Wilhelm Bölsche. Briefwechsel 1887–1919, ed. Rosemarie Nöthlich
Madison Papers SS: The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series, ed. David B. Mattern et al.
Muir Journal 1867–8, JM online: John Muir, Manuscript Journal ‘The “thousand mile walk” from Kentucky to Florida and Cuba, September 1867–February 1868’, MHT
Muir Journal ‘Sierra’, summer 1869 (1887), MHT: John Muir, Manuscript ‘Sierra Journal’, vol.1: summer 1869, notebook, circa 1887, MHT
Muir Journal ‘Sierra’, summer 1869 (1910), MHT: John Muir, ‘Sierra Journal’, vol.1: summer 1869, typescript, circa 1910, MHT
Muir Journal ‘World Tour’, pt.1, 1903, JM online: John Muir, Manuscript Journal, ‘World Tour’, pt.1, June–July 1903, MHT
Schiller and Goethe 1856: Briefwechsel zwischen Schiller und Goethe in den Jahren 1794–1805
Schiller Letters 1943–2003: Schillers Werke: Nationalausgabe. Briefwechsel, ed. Julius Petersen and Gerhard Fricke
Thoreau Correspondence 1958: The Correspondence of Henry David Thoreau, ed. Walter Harding and Carl Bode
Thoreau Excursion and Poems 1906: The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Excursion and Poems
Thoreau Journal 1906: The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, ed. Bradford Torrey
Thoreau Journal 1981–2002: The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau: Journal, ed. Robert Sattelmeyer et al.
Thoreau Walden 1910: Walden
TJ Papers RS: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, ed. Jeff Looney et al.
WH CH Letters 1910–16: Wilhelm und Caroline von Humboldt in ihren Briefen, ed. Familie von Humboldt
Prologue
1 Description AH Chimborazo climb: AH to WH, 25 November 1802, AH WH Letters 1880, p.48; AH, About an Attempt to Climb to the Top of Chimborazo, Kutzinski 2012, pp.135–55; AH, 23 June 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, pp.100–109.