Title: Bücher-Recensionen [Book Review] -
Essai Politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne, par Al. de Humboldt.
Weimar: Industrie-Comptoirs, 1809.
8vo. 53 pages, plus a folding chart measuring 7.25 inches x 11 inches
(18cm x 28cm). Text is in German. A scarce primary resource.
This is a complete monthly issue of the Geographische Ephemeriden,
together with continuations from the subsequent (consecutive) issues,
containing the above mentioned book review, a sbstantial analysis.
This account is complete, attractively bound booklet style in recent
blue paper covers with label.
These pages, printed in 1809, provide a lengthy and expediently
issued contemporary review, in 3 parts, of Humboldt's now exceedingly rare,
important work on the political status of the Kingdom of New Spain,
first published in Paris 1808. Accompanied by a detailed elevation chart
featuring astronomical measurements at Mexico City, Veracruz, Celaya,
Querétaro, Acapulco, and environs. A seldom seen analysis, in itself
fascinating, this is a unique item to pair with the collector's edition.
From 1799 to 1804, Humboldt was accompanied by the French botanist Aime Bonpland,
and together they made observations on geology, geography, zoology, botany and the political and social character of the regions. His exploration of Orinoco River
was the first to furnish any positive knowledge of that river. In 1802, in exploring
the volcanoes of Ecuador, he ascended heights that had not previously been attained,
and on Chimborazo reached the altitude of 19,286 feet. Afterward he made a profile of Mexico from sea to sea, this was the first profile ever given of an entire country.
After his return to Paris, and over a period of about two decades, Humboldt undertook to publish the results of his study in the monumental 29-volume Voyage aux regions equinoxiales du Nouveau Continent. This work comprised the first scientific
description of the American Southwest and includes a wealth of new information on California and Texas.
These are the original pages printed in 1809, and NOT a reprint.
This narrative is from a rare multi-volume geographical and scientific journal titled "Allgemeine Geographische Ephemeriden", which issued fifty volumes from 1798-1816
and which encompassed critical contemporary topics of geography and astronomy.
Adam Christian Gaspari and Franz Xaver von Zach were editors of this important
scientific journal.
Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt, (1769-1859), German naturalist and explorer, made several scientific excursions in Europe. In 1792 he was appointed assessor of mines in Berlin. Humboldt's real aim in life was scientific exploration, and in 1797 he resigned from his post to acquire a thorough knowledge of the systems of geodetic, meteorological, and geomagnetic measurements. He obtained permission from the Spanish government to visit the Spanish colonies in Central and South America. These colonies were then accessible only to Spanish officials and the Roman Catholic mission. Completely shut off from the outside world, they offered enormous possibilities to a scientific explorer. Humboldt’s social standing assured him of access to official circles.
In the summer of 1799 he set sail from Marseille accompanied by the French botanist Aimé Bonpland, whom he had met in Paris. Humboldt and Bonpland spent five years, from 1799 to 1804, in Central and South America, covering more than 6,000 miles on foot, on horseback, and in canoes.Humboldt ascended peaks in the Peruvian Andes to study the relation of temperature and altitude , made observations leading to the discovery of meteor shower periodicity, and investigated the fertilizing properties of guano.
Starting from Caracas, they travelled south through grasslands and scrublands until they reached the banks of the Apure, a tributary of the Orinoco River. They continued their journey on the river by canoe as far as the Orinoco. Following its course and that of the Casiquiare, they proved that the Casiquiare River formed a connection between the vast river systems of the Amazon and the Orinoco. For three months Humboldt and Bonpland moved through dense tropical forests, tormented by clouds of mosquitoes and stifled by the humid heat.
After a short stay in Cuba, Humboldt and Bonpland returned to South America for an extensive exploration of the Andes. From Bogotá to Trujillo, Peru, they wandered over the Andean Highlands. They climbed a number of peaks, including all the volcanoes in the surroundings of Quito, Ecuador; Humboldt’s ascent of Chimborazo to a height of 19,286 feet (5,878 metres), remained a world mountain-climbing record for nearly 30 years. All these achievements were carried out without the help of modern mountaineering equipment, without ropes, crampons, or oxygen supplies; hence, Humboldt and Bonpland suffered badly from mountain sickness. But Humboldt turned his discomfort to advantage: he became the first person to ascribe mountain sickness to lack of oxygen in the rarefied air of great heights. He also studied the oceanic current off the west coast of South America that was originally named after him but is now known as the Peru Current.
In the spring of 1803, the two travellers sailed from Guayaquil to Acapulco, Mexico, where they spent the last year of their expedition in a close study of this most developed and highly civilized part of the Spanish colonies. After a short stay in the United States, where Humboldt was received by President Jefferson, they sailed for France. Humboldt and Bonpland returned with an immense amount of information. In addition to a vast collection of new plants, there were determinations of longitudes and latitudes, measurements of the components of the Earth’s geomagnetic field, and daily observations of temperatures and barometric pressure, as well as statistical data on the social and economic conditions of Mexico.
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