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Scarce and Interesting 19th Century Review on the Following Book
Author:
Alexander de Humboldt.
Title: Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial
Regions of the New Continent, during the Years 1799-1804 - (A Review)
Publisher: London: The Quarterly Review, 1821.
Notes:An engaging contemporary analysis on the well-known classic,
which was published in 1821. Humboldt and Bonpland traveled widely through
South and Central America, studying meteorological phenomena and exploring
wild and uninhabited country. His account was a description of the voyage
from Spain and a stop in the Canaries; Tobago and South America.
Extract
"Although we have taken frequent occasions to deliver
our opinion freely of the blemishes which pervade the
literary productions of the Baron de Humboldt, we are not
insensitive of his merits; and cheefully admit that, in the present
instance, and in proportion as he advances into the interior of the
equinoctial regions of America, he improves in manner as well as in matter.
The sublime and majestic scenery of an invigorating climate, a productive
soil, and a luxuriant vegetation, spread over a boundless territory intersected
by magnificent rivers, has furnished his eloquent pen with so rapid a succession
of new and interesting objects, as to relieve him from any necessity of indulging
in those digressions which have sometimes been introduced to give
interest to a barren subject. He is still, however, discursive."
End Excerpt
Circumspect review which provides a grudging
overview of Humboldt's "verbose and languid" narrative, featuring the scenery
of Atures, state of
the missions of the Orinoco, the demise of indigenous tribes, the 'Guahiboes'
and 'Macoes' and 'Salivas;' the behaviour of local wildlife - jaguars,
lions and tigers, the "hairy man of the woods, that carries off women,
constructs huts and eats human flesh" and the torment of insects:
"it is impossible not to be constantly disturbed my mosquettos, zancudoes,
jejens and tempraneroes, that cover the face and hands, pierce the clothes
with their long sucker, in the shape of a needle and, getting into the mouth
and nostrils, set you coughing and sneezing, whenever you attempt to
speak in the open air..."
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt(1769-1859),
was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the
Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt. Humboldt's
quantitative work on botanical geography was foundational to the field of
biogeography.
Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled to Latin America,
exploring and describing it from a scientific point of view for the first time.
His description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set
of volumes over 21 years. He was one of the first to propose that the
lands bordering the Atlantic were once joined (South America and Africa
in particular). Later, his five-volume work "Kosmos" attempted to
unify the various branches of scientific knowledge. Humboldt supported and
worked with other scientists, including Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac,
Justus von Liebig, Louis Agassiz, Matthew Fontaine Maury, and most notably
Aimé Bonpland (with whom he conducted much of his scientific exploration).
A rare and special item to pair with the collector's copy of the book!
Condition:
28 pages. Book review. These are the original text pages printed in 1821.
Excellent condition, attractively bound in blue paper covers with label.
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