HUMBOLDT, ALEXANDER VON. (1769-1859). Prussian scientist and polymath who made notable contributions to the fields of geography, cartography, botany, astronomy, ecology, and meteorology. ALS. (“A v. Humboldt”). 2pp. 4to. Berlin, October 12, 1828. To a baron (German author BARON FRIEDRICH DE LA MOTTE FOUQUÉ, 1777-1843). In German with translation.

“Between the boredom of five-hour sessions (Lectures on the blossoming of the sleeping earth, called ‘wild hunter’ by the people, the swamp region of nature vulgo [Latin for “in general”] and … region, the migration of the human race from planet to planet) and the happy arrival of my dear brother, I can hardly find time to thank you, dearest Baron, for the North and South Man now in print. Such a kind gift, such an honorable public address, deserved more solemn recognition on my part. But I hope, despite your preference for the Nordic art circle, that the rough winds will soon bring you and your dazzling Baroness to the city, so that I can tell you in person how the impressions I received when you gave me the freshly written sheets to enjoy have become even more vivid.

That is how far I had written when I received your beautiful undeserved verse. I am proud to feel that my speech was considered a German speech in your eyes. Many things had to be dealt with in it, the spiritual unity of the common Fatherland, the infirmities of society, the praise of a king who would never openly forgive flattery. May I have found harmonious echoes for German feelings! I am all the prouder of the applause from your house because I have not written in German for 19 years.

With heartfelt admiration

Your most loyal servant…”

A prodigious polymath whose interest in the natural world was underpinned by Enlightenment ideals, Humboldt travelled the globe conducting extensive scientific expeditions to Spanish America and the United States, and earned renown with the publication of his multiple volumes of scientific observations which took a holistic view of nature. One of the most eminent figures of his age, Humboldt’s knowledge and intellect was revered by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, with whom he conducted anatomy experiments; Thomas Jefferson, who consulted him on the boundary of the newly acquired Louisiana Territory; and Royal Society President Sir Joseph Banks, who shared botanical specimens with him. In his time, he was as well-known throughout the world as Napoleon.

Unfortunately, his publications also placed him deeply in debt which, in 1827, King Friedrich Wilhelm III used to persuade him to move from Paris to Berlin. There he began delivering a series of 61 lectures at the University of Berlin, which were published in a five-volume treatise Kosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe, beginning in 1845 and concluding, three years after his death, in 1862. It was through his popular work that Humboldt popularized the modern definition of “cosmos” to mean both heaven and earth, taken from the ancient Greek “kosmos” – a harmonious arrangement or order. The influence of Humboldt and his Kosmos continued long after his death, inspiring, among others, Charles Darwin who brought Humboldt’s works with him on his famous expedition aboard the Beagle.

Fouqué, an acquaintance and correspondent of Humboldt, was a prolific and popular writer of novels on subjects of northern mythology whose 1810 Der Held des Nordens trilogy would influence Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. He is likely best remembered for his fairytale Undine, a work the Louisa May Alcott references in Little Women and which influenced Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. Changing tastes led to a decline in the popularity of his Romantic tales around 1820 and he was eventually granted a pension by Prussian King Frederick William IV. Our letter references Fouqué’s work The Man of the South and the Man of the North and his wife, Caroline de la Motte c (1773-1831), one of the most prolific female writers of the period, famous for her novels, stories, poems, and works of nonfiction. Humboldt is recorded to have had one work by Baron Fouqué in his library.

Humboldt also mentions his brother Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), a philosopher, diplomat and important linguist who assisted in reforming the Prussian education system, developing a new philosophy of education that would in turn influence modern education around the world. His 1852 philosophical treatise The Limits of State Action influenced John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty.

Apparently unpublished. Written on the recto and verso of a single sheet and folded into quarters. Creased with an irregular edge, a small tear affecting several words, and some light foxing and wear.