Zusammenfassung
Alexander von Humboldts Fußnoten waren ihrer Zeit weit
voraus, obwohl sie kaum den heutigen akademischen Standards
entsprechen. Dieser Artikel untersucht die Fußnoten in
Humboldts
Essai
politique sur l‘île de Cuba
(1826). Zwar ist es nicht immer leicht, die manchmal recht
geheimnisvollen Verweise zu entschlüsseln, dennoch lohnt
sich der Versuch: Humboldts Fußnoten geben nicht nur
Auskunft über seine umfassenden Netzwerke des Wissens. Sie
verweisen auch auf Auseinandersetzungen verschiedener
Gelehrter über Humboldts Schriften. Schließlich beinhalten
sie Humboldts Reaktionen auf solche Auseinandersetzungen.
Eine Untersuchung von Humboldts Fußnoten erlaubt es folglich
dem Leser, mehr über Humboldt den Wissenschaftler aber auch
Humboldt den Mensch zu erfahren.
Abstract
When it comes to
footnotes, Alexander von Humboldt was ahead of his times
even though his references leave much to be desired by
today’s academic standards. This article examines the
footnotes of Humboldt’s
Essai politique sur
l‘île de Cuba (1826). While it is not always easy
to decipher his sometimes cryptic references, the
undertaking is worthwhile: Humboldt’s footnotes do not only
reveal his vast networks of knowledge. They also provide
glimpses of ongoing, contemporary disputes among different
scholars that involve Humboldt’s writings. They also present
Humboldt’s reactions to such disputes. Exploring Humboldt’s
footnotes consequently allows the reader to access both
Humboldt the scholar and Humboldt the human being.
Résumé
Quand il s’agit de notes, Alexandre de Humboldt était en
avance sur son temps, même si ses références laissent
beaucoup à désirer par rapport aux normes universitaires
d’aujourd’hui. Cet article examine les notes de l’Essai
Politique sur l‘île de Cuba de Humboldt
(1826). Même s’il n’est pas toujours facile de déchiffrer
ses références parfois cryptiques, l’entreprise vaut la
peine: les notes de Humboldt ne révèlent pas seulement ses
vastes réseaux de savoir. Ils fournissent également des
aperçus de conflits contemporains en cours entre les
différents spécialistes qui s’occupent des écrits de
Humboldt. Ils présentent également les réactions de Humboldt
à de tels différends. Explorer les notes de Humboldt permet
donc au lecteur d’accéder à la fois Humboldt le savant et
Humboldt l’être humain.
* * *
Introduction[1]
In the
Essai politique sur
l’île de Cuba[2]
(hereinafter “Essai”),
Alexander von Humboldt did not only analyze his own
extensive data collection and merge it with those of his
contemporary scholar-scientists as well as with observations
from three hundred years of travel narratives on the
Americas. He also engaged in discussions with those other
authors and texts across time and space, thereby initiating
dialogues rather than merely presenting the ponderings of
his own vivid mind. The
Essai is
quite conscious of its position within the
scholarly-scientific world of its day, even if this
self-awareness is expressed in at times rather subtle and
even ironic ways, such as in the different layers of its
footnotes.
Reconstructing Humboldt’s
references allows us to explore the underlying building
blocks that may be considered an essential part if not the
essence of his complex “networks of knowledge.”[3]
In fact, for an early nineteenth-century scientist-scholar,
Humboldt was untypically meticulous in citing his sources—he
did attribute information to its originators, an
unquestioned academic standard today but not so in
Humboldt’s time.[4]
Then again, in spite of his pioneering role in comparatively
carefully preparing citations for his writings, his
references leave much to be desired from the perspective of
a twenty-first century historian. Or was there a system
behind some of the carelessness in his sources? It seems
also likely that typesetters might have contributed to
incorporating a few mistakes in Humboldt’s multi-language
web of citations. Leaving hindsight aside, however,
Humboldt’s idea of references is intriguing in itself and
merits further inquiry.[5]
In his footnotes, Humboldt
more or less openly collected and commented on observations
from scholar-scientists, politicians, abolitionists, even
pro-slavery authors, and travelogue writers. He also
incorporated a second and rather veiled layer of references
to both critical and friendly discussions of his overall
work besides reacting in a courteous manner to other’s—as
well as his own—alleged mistakes in the process of gathering
and analyzing data. In some instances, debates about an
alleged mistake of his were discussed in several journals at
once. Humboldt certainly took note of these discussions and
duly referenced them in his
Essai. It
adds another dimension to reading the
Essai
today when this underlying layer becomes as transparent once
again as it must have been to Humboldt’s contemporary
readers.
Back then, in a much
smaller “global” scholarly-scientific community, Humboldt’s
references must have been much more accessible, especially
as he often referred to luminaries who were very much alive
and busy publishing their own findings. Of course, while
Humboldt relished the scientific-scholarly dialogue with
others, it was somewhat of a challenge for him to keep it
going, as the type of research that he wanted and produced
was not easily available. He therefore also needed to engage
in a dialogue with himself. That is, I found every now and
then that references to a colleague’s publication also refer
to Humboldt’s own work. After all, he collaborated with
quite a number of scholar-scientists of his day.[6]
Moreover, other authors borrowed extensively from Humboldt
and did not necessarily mention that fact. It was up to
Humboldt himself, among others, to point out the problem,
which might also explain why he decided to put so much
effort into his own reference work.
The goal of this paper is
to provide a first glimpse of the comments, corrections, and
attitudes that Humboldt wrapped up in his occasionally
rather cryptic references. The basis of my analysis is my
research about the persons that Humboldt mentioned as well
as a bibliography of the sources that he referenced in his
Essai.[7]
It was possible to trace most of Humboldt’s references and
eventually to arrive at exactly the piece of information
that he cited.
Besides the possibilities
of numerous online library catalogues and online archival
finding aids in the Americas and in Europe, a starting point
for my search was
The
Humboldt-Library: A Catalogue of the Library of Alexander
von Humboldt compiled by Henry Stevens in 1863
and reprinted in 1967.[8]
Curiously, however, few publications that date from before
the 1830s are listed. Those mentioned include maps,
manuscripts, particularly valuable and personally esteemed
books, as well as Humboldt’s own publications. This raises
the question of what happened with the volumes that Humboldt
cited in his
Essai but that are not listed as a part of his
library. He must have sold or given away books upon
completing his American travelogue. Be that as it may,
The Humboldt-Library
implies that, in the late 1820s, upon moving from Paris back
to Berlin, Humboldt not only began a final phase of working
on his American travelogue, but he also started to part with
those sources that had formed its basis.
Observing and
Interpreting Humboldt’s References
In his
Essai,
Humboldt quoted sources that were composed in at least nine
languages: French, Spanish, English, German, Dutch,
Portuguese, Italian, Latin, and ancient Greek. In a number
of cases, he resorted to the same work in two different
languages, such as when referring to the
Letters from the
Havana by Robert Francis Jameson, which was first
published in English in 1821, and, subsequently, in 1826, in
French. Humboldt sometimes referred to the English
Letters from the
Havana, but also mentioned an
Aperçu statistique,
which is actually the same work, whose complete title in
French starts out with
Aperçu statistique de l’île de Cuba, précédé de quelques
lettres sur la Havane and so on.[9]
The French version by Bertrand Huber, French Minister of
Foreign Affairs, is more than simply a translation. It
contains Jameson’s original seven letters to which “Mr.
Huber added,” as Humboldt himself observed in the first
volume of his
Essai, “much important information on trade and
Cuba’s customs system” (vol. I, p. 281n).
It was not the only example
of Humboldt’s including additional references to editions in
the same and other languages. The fact that he did so
insinuates that, for him, the production of knowledge never
stopped but instead was an ongoing process, which may also
explain why none of the various editions of his own books
are identical: his cosmos of knowledge was a dynamic one. It
kept changing as scholars and scientists kept further
developing their own as well as their colleagues’ findings.
Other examples may be found in the
Essai. In
the case of Bryan Edwards’ 1793
The History, Civil
and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies,
Humboldt appears to have gone through five editions: When
first citing Edwards, Humboldt explicitly referred to the
first edition, which was published in two volumes in 1793 (Essai,
vol. I, p. 91). Later on in his
Essai,
however, Humboldt suddenly mentioned a volume III (vol. I,
p. 167) and even a volume V (vol. I, p. 333). By then, he
must have been quoting from the 1819 fifth edition in five
volumes.[10]
Edwards’ extended fifth edition merits further inquiry, for
the man had been dead for nearly two decades by the time it
was published.[11]
A few oddities in
Humboldt’s references may be attributed to plain human
error. For instance, Humboldt provided for William Dampier’s
Voyages and
Descriptions[12]
three different publication dates: 1696, 1599, and, finally,
the correct date—the volume was first published in 1699
(vol. I, pp. xxxiv, 352; vol. II, p. 6, respectively).Then
again, some of Humboldt’s references are obscured by
idiosyncratic punctuation and italics, as is the case with
an Italian source in the
Essai
(vol. I, p. 58n) that reads “Maraschini
sulle format. del Vicentino, p. 177.” A missing
comma and the fact that the entire phrase is italicized make
it difficult for people without any knowledge of Italian to
realize that the author’s name is Abbé Pietro Maraschini and
the name of the publication
Sulle formazioni delle rocce del Vicentino saggio geologic.
It was published in Padua in 1824. Humboldt owned an earlier
French version of Maraschini’s work from 1822.[13]
What makes tracking
Humboldt’s sources somewhat challenging—but also illustrates
his thinking and possibly his taking up an author once again
at a later point—is his tendency to provide very short
titles so that his references to one and the same work vary
in the course of his
Essai. Up
to the nineteenth century, book titles could be very long.
They were more like abstracts. Humboldt at times picked the
beginning and then again a later phrase from the long title
for his short references. For example, he repeatedly cited
“Dampier’s
Voyages and Descriptions” or simply “Dampier’s
Voyages.”
At the beginning of the
Essai’s
volume two, however, he introduced “Dampier,
Discourse of Winds, Breezes and Currents.” This
is actually one and the same book published in 1699. The
overall title is
Voyages and Descriptions. Vol. II. In Three Parts.
The third part of volume II is entitled
A Discourse of
Trade-Winds, Breezes, Storms, Seasons of the Year, Tides and
Currents of the Torrid Zone throughout the World…
and it goes on. Humboldt therefore moved from citing a
general reference to a specific section of the same book.[14]
Something similar may be
observed with regard to articles, which were sometimes
called “memoirs” in English back then. Humboldt repeatedly
cited the author of an article alongside the name of the
overall publication rather than providing the article’s
title. For instance, one reference reads “Roxburgh,
Repertory, Vol. II.” William Roxburgh had published various
short contributions in Alexander Dalrymple’s
Oriental Repertory,
a multi-volume collection of scholarship that appeared
between 1791 and 1797. In the 1793 volume number two,
Roxburgh wrote about the “Hindoo
Method of Cultivating the
Sugar Cane
[…],” thus discussing the issue that Humboldt mentioned in
his Essai
upon citing Roxburgh.[15]
Apparently, in the much smaller transatlantic
scholarly-scientific communities of the eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, Humboldt’s readers must have been
familiar enough with Dalrymple’s
Oriental Repertory
to be able to infer Roxburgh’ role as the author of an
article in that publication.
The above examples show
that in his reference work, Humboldt was rather efficient.
Evidently, he read selectively by focusing on relevant
materials. As a result, he occasionally quoted exclusively
from a specific section of a single source. For example,
Humboldt referred only to chapter V of Henry Bolingbroke’s
1807 A Voyage to
the Demerary.[16]
Likewise, he exclusively quoted from the chapter on a “Route
to the Pacific Ocean (263-332)” in volume II of William
Davis Robinson’s
Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution.[17]
Scholarly-Scientific
Disputes in the References
Humboldt actually
appears to have obscured some of his sources on purpose:
insiders would recognize the source in question and thereby
understand that Humboldt was following a certain discourse.
Having thereby acknowledged a specific issue, he did not
have to discuss it himself anymore, which could have been an
advantage if his own work was being criticized. He preferred
to find subtler ways to exonerate himself without engaging
with a critical author on an unprofessional level. Footnotes
were ideal helpers in this regard.
Then again, in a few
instances, references are crystal clear and easy to
identify, such as when Humboldt quoted Leopold von Buch,
whom he esteemed very highly and whose books he piled up in
his library.[18]
The more obscure the references are, the more interesting
are therefore some of the underlying disputes. Humboldt was
in a way courteous in both including and obscuring
references to works that for different reasons might have
caused him unease. Then again, others did not always live up
to Humboldt’s scholarly-scientific expectations of
presenting new data and instead simply quoted Humboldt’s
findings without always acknowledging him. It meant that
even in works that were published by other authors, Humboldt
encountered his own data rather than something new.
Some authors, while
providing solid scientific data, voiced opinions contrary to
Humboldt’s, which meant for Humboldt to find a way that
allowed him to include the data without discussing the
author’s point of view. An obscure source may be the key in
such cases. For example, with regard to sugar cane
cultivation in the Caribbean, Humboldt twice mentioned a
“Mr. Bockford” (vol. I, pp. 215, 220), obviously
referring to a publication yet without ever identifying it.
The man in question was William Beckford, nephew of a
mayor of London also named William Beckford and cousin of
the illustrious British writer William Thomas Beckford. The
William Beckford in question here (1744-1799) was a sugar
planter in Jamaica, a historian, and a patron of the arts.[19]
In 1790, he published a work about Jamaica, which defended
the slave trade but urged for amelioration.[20]
Humboldt’s persistence in calling Beckford Bockford without
identifying him suggests that, while he was at ease with
Beckford’s data,
he did not wish to discuss the plantation owner’s personal
convictions. It is not the only time Humboldt did
so in his Essai:
In vol. 1, p. 321 he mentioned data provided by a “Mr.
Norris” without giving any clues that Robert Norris had been
an English trader in West Africa from the 1750s to the 1780s
who defended the slave trade in a 1789 publication, thus
preventing heavy regulation of the slave trade in the early
1790s.[21]
As regards the problem of
authors “borrowing” from him, Humboldt also took note. For
instance, in volume II (p. 283) of his
Essai,
Humboldt observed that different works published during the
Spanish colonies’ wars of independence were based on data
that he had released in 1808. The accompanying footnote
exempts Robinson’s 1821
Memoirs of the
Mexican Revolution from this criticism and then
lists four short references.
The first of the references
reads “Edinb.
Rev., 1810, January.” It appears to refer to
The Edinburgh Review
or Critical Journal, No. 34, (February 1811), pp.
372-381,[22]
which printed a review of a two-volume 1810 book-set
entitled Present
State of the Spanish Colonies, Including a Particular Report
of Hispaniola, or the Spanish Part of St Domingo.
The books’ author was William Walton, Jr., “Secretary to the
Expedition which captured the City of Santo Domingo from the
French, and resident British agent there.”[23]
The review mentioned Humboldt on p. 381—apparently, Walton
had liberally “borrowed” from him, for the review’s author
complained that in Walton’s vol. 2, “the Travels of Humboldt
… are so outrageously pillaged, and the obligation so little
acknowledged, that we have no kind of temptation to pursue
our criticism any further.” Not even providing the review’s
page numbers, Humboldt merely and rather delicately hinted
at the matter of his work being “pillaged,” yet leaving
specifics up in the air. One needs to leave through the
entire volume of the
Edinburgh Review
in question to pinpoint the review as the item to which
Humboldt must have referred in his
Essai.
The second of the three references reads “Walton in
Colonial Journal,
1817 (March and June).”[24]
It is a letter to the editor in two parts by Walton himself,
which consequently provides another example of Walton’s
approach in addition to the two volumes of the
Present State.
The sources three and four
take the issue one step further by illustrating that the
problem of authors’ “borrowing” from Humboldt occurred in
several languages simultaneously, including besides the
English-speaking world also scientific communities in the
French- and Spanish-speaking worlds. Hence, the third
source, a reference to the 1823
Bibliothèque universelle des sciences, belles-lettres, et
arts, faisant suite à la Bibliothèque Britannique, rédigée à
Genève par les auteurs de ce dernier recueil
was reprinted in Humboldt’s fourth reference to the
Bibliotheca
Americana, vol. 1, actually a Spanish-language
publication that contains an excerpt from Humboldt’s
Vues des
Cordillères, entitled “El
Chimborazo” (pp. 108-115).[25]
Put differently, even
though Humboldt followed a wide range of scientific and
scholarly publications in numerous languages in an attempt
to engage in a vivid scientific dialogue, he kept
encountering his own findings in the texts written by
others. The dialogue thus kept turning into a monologue,
which is a criticism – if not an underlying motivation –
that may be traced in Humboldt’s sources and his
comparatively meticulous references. He thereby urged for a
more transparent and even regulated scholarly and scientific
approach.
Sometimes disputes
involving Humboldt’s findings stretched out over various
publications, with Humboldt’s
Essai
merely being one instance in a chain of publications. In
vol. II, pp. 80-81, Humboldt cautiously acknowledged that a
Mr. Atkinson had come up with different results regarding
the equator’s mean temperature, challenging the data that
Humboldt had released in his work on isothermal lines,
which was published in French in 1817 and subsequently, in
1820/21, in English.[26]
In the Essai,
Humboldt moved on to citing David Brewster’s findings in the
“Edinb. Journal
of Science, 1829, no. 7, p. 180.” (While a
reference to an 1829 journal in an 1826
publication might hint at an error, it need not necessarily
be so.[27]
In this case, however, Humboldt – or the typesetter
–apparently confused 1826 and 1829.) Brewster
in the 1826
Edinburgh Journal of
Science actually included the following statement
on p. 180: “It thus appears, says Mr. Atkinson, from data,
furnished by himself, that Humboldt has fallen into error,
when he asserted that the mean temperature of the equator
cannot be fixed beyond 81° 5’.”[28]
When Humboldt published his
Essai
in 1826, it seemed that he had erred. While he acknowledged
his possible mistake, he also proceeded carefully to
illustrate that Atkinson was the likelier candidate to be in
the wrong. In fact, the
Essai’s
entire final sub-chapter right before the
Supplément
is devoted to proving that Atkinson had erred (vol. II, pp.
79-92). Above all, Humboldt stressed the point that many
different factors had to be taken into consideration when
grappling with a problem. The sub-chapter contains on p. 91
Humboldt’s carefully obscured reference to Atkinson in the
observation that “it does not at all seem likely to me that
equatorial temperature can reach 29.2° C, which is what the
knowledgeable and esteemed author of a report on
Réfractions
astronomiques claims.” This author was Atkinson,
whose treatise, written in English, was entitled “On
Astronomical and other Refractions; with a connected
Inquiry into the Law of Temperature in different Latitudes
and at different Altitudes.”[29]
Humboldt provided the title of an English-language
publication in French, which he apparently did because of
the fact that his reputation was at stake. Note that,
moreover, Humboldt simultaneously dashed forward in a new
direction: Up to then, the discussion had been in
Fahrenheit, but when referring to it in his
Essai,
Humboldt—rather uncharacteristically—provided
both
Fahrenheit and
Celsius as if to show how very much at ease he was with
converting measurements.
The story does not end
here. In 1827, that is, the year following the publication
of Humboldt’s
Essai, David Brewster, the editor of the
Edinburgh Journal of
Science, defended Humboldt, arguing that in his
“admirable paper on Isothermal Lines,” Humboldt had
“naturally” given “a preference to observations made in the
old world, where the distribution of temperature did not
exhibit the same anomalies which occur in the New World.”[30]
Just as Humboldt had intimidated in his
Essai,
Atkinson’s criticism was not valid. Brewster now presented
further evidence backing up the solidity of Humboldt’s
research and thus supporting Humboldt’s observation that
Atkinson had not been right to criticize him.
Conclusion
The
Humboldt-Brewster-Atkinson exchange in four different
publications is an example of the ongoing dialogue
underneath the surface of one of Humboldt’s texts. In his
Essai,
Humboldt engaged in pioneering scientific-scholarly
dialogues, which he made transparent by carefully
referencing his sources. Ironically, however, Humboldt also
had to create textual webs himself, for the type of
publication that he desired required a foundation of
numerous other texts—in the same thorough style—that did not
quite exist. He therefore had to contribute not simply by
writing his travelogue but by basing it on a network of
other such publications to which he had contributed either
by co-authoring them (knowingly or unknowingly) or by having
initiated a discussion, as was the case with the equator’s
mean temperature.[31]
One might say that in his scholarly-scientific dialogues,
Humboldt was to some extent talking to himself. Humboldt’s
writings—or networks of knowledge—are as much a monologue as
they are a dialogue. For monologues, however, they are vivid
and open to new perspectives and therefore continue to
inspire science and scholarship even today.
References
“Art. VI. Present
State of the Spanish Colonies, Including a Particular Report
of Hispaniola, or the Spanish Part of St Domingo. By William
Walton junior. Secretary to the Expedition which captured
the City of Santo Domingo from the French, and resident
British agent there. Longman & Co. London, 1810.”
The
Edinburgh Review or Critical Journal,
No. XXXIV, (Feb. 1811): 372-381.
Atkinson, Henry.
“XVI. On Astronomical and other Refractions; with a
connected Inquiry into the Law of Temperature in different
Latitudes and at different Altitudes. Read January 14, April
8, and May 13, 1825.”
Memoirs of
the [Royal] Astronomical Society of London,
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Beckford, William.
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which is Added, a General Index to both Volumes.
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Alexander von.
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politique sur lEîle de Cuba. Avec une carte et un supplement
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Humboldt,
Alexander von.
“On Isothermal Lines, and the
Distribution of Heat over the Globe.”
The
Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,
Vols. III-V, Nos. 5-9 (1820-1821), 1-20, 256-274, 23-37,
262-281, and 28-39.
Humboldt,
Alexander von. 1810.
Vues des
Cordillères, et monumens des peuples indigènes de l’Amèrique.
Paris: F. Schoell.
Humboldt,
Alexander von, Vera M. Kutzinski, and Ottmar Ette.
Political Essay on the Island of Cuba.
Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 2011, 423-459.
Humboldt,
Alexander von and Jabbo Oltmanns.
Recueil
d’observations astronomiques [etc.].
Paris: Schoell, 1808-1811.
Jameson, Robert
Francis.
Letters
from the Havana, during the Year 1820 Containing an Account
of the Present State of the Island of Cuba, and Observations
on the Slave Trade. London:
Printed for John Miller, 1821.
Jameson, Robert
Francis and Bertrand Huber.
Aperçu
statistique de l’île de Cuba, précédé de quelques lettres
sur la Havane, et suivi de tableaux synoptiques, d’une carte
de l’île, et du tracé des côtes depuis la Havane jusqu’à
Matanzas.
Paris: P. Dufart, 1826.
Lyell, Charles.
“VIII.—On a Recent Formation of Freshwater Limestone on
Forfarshire, and On Some Recent Deposits of Freshwater Marl;
with a Comparison of Recent with Ancient Freshwater
Formations; and an Appendix on the Gyrogonite of Seed-Vessel
of Chara.”
Transactions of the Geological Society of London.
Second Series. Vol. II: 73-96. London: Richard Tylor, 1829.
Read on December 17, 1824 and on January 7, 1825.
Mahlman, Wilhelm.
“Friedrich Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt.”
Illustrirte Zeitung 2 (1844): 91.
Maraschini, Abbé
Pietro.
Observations géognostiques sur quelques Localités du
Vincentin.
Paris, 1822.
Maraschini, Abbé
Pietro.
Sulle
formazioni delle rocce del Vicentino saggio geologico.
Padova: tipogr. della Minerva, 1824.
Norris, Robert.
Memoirs of the Reign of Bossa Ahádee, King of Dahomy an
Inland Country of Guiney: To Which Are Added, the Author's
Journey to Abomey, the Capital; and a Short Account of the
African Slave Trade. London:
Printed for W. Lowndes, 1789.
Robinson, William
Davis.
Memoirs of
the Mexican Revolution including a narrative of the
expedition of General Xavier Mina; to which are annexed some
observations on the practicability of opening a commerce
between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, through the Mexican
isthmus, in the province of Oaxaca, and at the Lake of
Nicaragua; and the vast importance of such commerce to the
civilized world. 2 vols. London:
Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Lepard, 1821. Note
that there is also an apparently one-volume edition from
1820.
Roxburgh, William.
“An
Account of
the
Hindoo
method of Cultivating the
Sugar Cane,
and Manufacturing the
Sugar
and
Jagary
in the
Rajahmundry Circar; interspersed
with such remarks, as tend to point out the great benefit
that might be expected from encreasing this
Branch
od
Agriculture, and improving the
quality of the
Sugar;
also the
process
observed, by the Natives of the
ganjam
District, in making the
Sugars
of
Barrampore.”
Oriental Repertory, ed.
Dalrymple, Alexander [East India Company]. Vol. 2. London,
Printed by G. Bigg, 1791-1797, here 1793, 497-514.
Rupke, Nicolaas A.
Alexander von Humboldt. A Metabiography.
Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press, 208.
Sheridan, Richard
B. “Planter and Historian: the Career of William Beckford.”
Jamaican Historical Review 4
(1964): 36-58.
Stevens, Henry.
The Humboldt-Library: A Catalogue of the Library of
Alexander von Humboldt.
Unveränd. fotomechan. Nachdr. d. Orig.-Ausg. London,
Stevens, 1863. Leipzig: Zentral-Antiquariat der Deutschen
Demokratischen Republik, 1967.
Walton, William.
Present state of the Spanish colonies: including a
particular report of Hispañola, or the Spanish part of
Santo Domingo; with a general survey of the settlements on
the south continent of America, as relates to history,
trade, population, customs, manners, &c., with a concise
statement of the sentiments of the people on their relative
situation to the mother country, &c.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown,
1810.
Walton, William.
“The Isthmus of Panama. Considered as Affording a Passage to
Unite the Pacific with the Atlantic or Western Ocean; and
this Passage (if Practicable) Compared with the Land Route,
over the Buenos Ayres Plaines.”
The
Colonial Journal, No. V (March
1817): 86-101.
Walton, William.
“Route to the Pacific. Concluded from page 101.”
The
Colonial Journal, No. VI (July
1817): 331-344.
How to cite
Werner, Anja (2014): Alexander von Humboldt’s Footnotes:
“Networks of Knowledge” in the Sources of the 1826
Essai
politique sur l’île de Cuba. In:
HiN - Humboldt im Netz. Internationale Zeitschrift für
Humboldt-Studien (Potsdam -
Berlin) XV, 28, S. 59-67. Online verfügbar unter <http://www.uni-potsdam.de/u/romanistik/humboldt/hin/hin28/werner.html>
Permanent URL unter <http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/abfrage_collections.php?coll_id=594&la=de>
[1]
This article was first outlined in the context of
Vanderbilt University’s Humboldt-in-English project
(HiE) in 2009.
[2]
All references to the Essai are to the 1826
free-standing two-volume edition.
Humboldt, Alexander von. 1826.
Essai politique sur l’île de Cuba. Avec une carte et
un supplement qui renferme des considerations sur la
population, la richesse territorial et le commerce
de l’archipel des Antilles et de Colombia.
2 vols. Paris: Librairie de Gide Fils.
[3]
The idea of Humboldt’s “Networks of Knowledge” was
illustrated in a 1999 exhibit by that name in Bonn
and Berlin, Germany. See Holl, Frank.
1999.
Alexander von Humboldt: Netzwerke des Wissens; [Haus
der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 6. Juni - 15. August
1999; Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, 15. September 1999
– 9. Januar 2000].
Bonn: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland GmbH. Begleitbuch zur
Ausstellung.
[4]
Wilhelm Mahlmann observed that, “it is usually clear
what is the result of his own observations and what
has been borrowed from other sources.” Wilhelm
Mahlman. 1844. “Friedrich Heinrich Alexander
Freiherr von Humboldt.”
Illustrirte Zeitung
2: 91. Quoted in Rupke, Nicolaas A. 2008.
Alexander von Humboldt. A Metabiography.
Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press, 22.
[5]
As regards the potential fruitfulness regarding such
an undertaking, see Grafton, Anthony. [1997*] 2003.
The Footnote: A Curious History.
London: Faber.
[6]
For example, the very first footnote of his
Reasoned Analysis
points to his collaboration with Jabbo Oltmanns on
the
Recueil d’observations astronomiques [etc.].
Paris: Schoell, 1808-1811.
[7]
Available in Humboldt, Alexander von, Vera M.
Kutzinski, and Ottmar Ette. 2011.
Political Essay on the Island of Cuba.
Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 423-459.
[8]
Stevens, Henry. [1863] 1967.
The Humboldt-Library: A Catalogue of the Library of
Alexander von Humboldt.
Unveränd. fotomechan. Nachdr. d. Orig.-Ausg.
London, Stevens, 1863. Leipzig: Zentral-Antiquariat
der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik.
[9]
Jameson, Robert Francis. 1821.
Letters from the Havana, during the Year 1820
Containing an Account of the Present State of the
Island of Cuba, and Observations on the Slave Trade.
London: Printed for John Miller; and Jameson, Robert
Francis and B. Huber.
1826.
Aperçu statistique de l’île de Cuba, précédé de
quelques lettres sur la Havane, et suivi de tableaux
synoptiques, d’une carte de l’ile, et du tracé des
côtes depuis la Havane jusqu’à Matanzas.
Paris: P.
Dufart.
[10]
Edwards, Bryan. 1793.
The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British
Colonies in the West Indies: In Two Volumes.
Dublin: Luke White; also Edwards, Bryan. 1819. The
History, Civil and Commercial, of the West Indies:
With a Continuation to the Present Time. 5th
ed. London: Whittaker.
[11]
Vgl. Blouet, Olwyn M. 2000. “Bryan Edwards, F.R.S.,
1743-1800.”
Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London,
Vol. 54 No. 2 (May): 215-222.
[12]
Dampier, William. 1699.
Voyages and Descriptions.
London: James Knapton. See note 12.
[13]
Maraschini, Abbé Pietro. [1822] 1824.
Sulle formazioni delle rocce del Vicentino saggio
geologico.
Padova: tipogr. della Minerva. Humboldt owned
Maraschini’s 1822.
Observations géognostiques sur quelques Localités du
Vincentin.
Paris.
[14]
Dampier, William. 1699.
Voyages and Descriptions. Vol. II. In Three Parts,
viz. 1. A Supplement of the Voyage Round the World,
Describing the Countreys of Tonquin, Achin, Malacca,
&c. Their Product, Inhabitants, Manners, Trade,
Policy, &c. 2. Two Voyages to Campeachy; with a
Description of the Coasts, Product, Inhabitants,
Logwood-Cutting, Trade, &c. of Jucatan, Campeachy,
New-Spain, &c. 3. A Discourse of Trade-Winds,
Breezes, Storms, Seasons of the Year, Tides and
Currents of the Torrid Zone throughout the World:
With an Account of Natal in Africk, its Product,
Negros, &c. By Captain William Dampier. Illustrated
with particular Maps and Draughts. To which is
Added, a General Index to both Volumes.
London: James Knapton. Humboldt apparently used the
first edition of the second volume (1699). He only
quotes from that volume. The first volume,
A New Voyage round the World,
was published in 1697.
[15]
Roxburgh, William. 1793. “An
Account of
the
Hindoo
method of Cultivating the
Sugar Cane,
and Manufacturing the
Sugar
and
Jagary
in the
Rajahmundry Circar;
interspersed with such remarks, as tend to point out
the great benefit that might be expected from
encreasing this
Branch
od
Agriculture,
and improving the
quality
of the
Sugar;
also the
process
observed, by the Natives of the
ganjam District,
in making the
Sugars
of
Barrampore.”
Oriental Repertory,
ed. Dalrymple, Alexander [East India Company]. Vol.
2. London, Printed by G. Bigg, 1791-97. p. 497-514.
[16]
Bolingbroke, Henry. 1807.
A Voyage to the Demerary Containing a Statistical
Account of the Settlements There, and of Those on
the Essequebo, the Berbice, and Other Contiguous
Rivers of Guyana.
London: Richard Phillips. There are also editions
from 1809 and 1813. Humboldt did not specify which
one he used.
[17]
Robinson, William Davis. 1821.
Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution including a
narrative of the expedition of General Xavier Mina;
to which are annexed some observations on the
practicability of opening a commerce between the
Pacific and Atlantic oceans, through the Mexican
isthmus, in the province of Oaxaca, and at the Lake
of Nicaragua; and the vast importance of such
commerce to the civilized world.
London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, &
Lepard. 2 vols. Note that there is also an
apparently one-volume edition from 1820.
[18]
See Stevens,
The Humboldt-Library.
[19]
Sheridan, Richard B. 1964.
“Planter and
Historian: the Career of William Beckford.”
Jamaican Historical Review
4: 36-58.
[20]
Beckford, William. 1790.
A Descriptive Account of the Island of Jamaica with
Remarks upon the Cultivation of the Sugar-Cane,
throughout the Different Seasons of the Year, and
Chiefly Considered in a Picturesque Point of View:
Also Observations and Reflections upon What Would
Probably be the Consequences of an Abolition of the
Slave-Trade, and of the Emancipation of the Slaves
[2 vols.]. London, Printed for T. and J. Egerton.
[21]
Norris, Robert. 1789.
Memoirs of the Reign of Bossa Ahádee, King of Dahomy
an Inland Country of Guiney: To Which Are Added, the
Author’s Journey to Abomey, the Capital; and a Short
Account of the African Slave Trade.
London: Printed for W. Lowndes. As to Norris, see
Finkelman, Paul and Joseph C. Miller, eds. 1998.
Macmillan Encyclopedia of World Slavery.
New York: Macmillan Reference.
[22]
1811. “Art. VI.
Present State of the Spanish Colonies, Including a
Particular Report of Hispaniola, or the Spanish Part
of St Domingo.
By William Walton junior. Secretary to the
Expedition which captured the City of Santo Domingo
from the French, and resident British agent there.
Longman & Co. London, 1810.”
The Edinburgh Review or Critical Journal,
No. XXXIV, (Feb.): 372-81.
[23]
Walton, William. 1810. Present state of the Spanish
colonies: including a particular report of
Hispañola, or the Spanish part of Santo Domingo;
with a general survey of the settlements on the
south continent of America, as relates to history,
trade, population, customs, manners, &c., with a
concise statement of the sentiments of the people on
their relative situation to the mother country, &c.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and
Brown.
[24]
Walton, William. 1817. “The Isthmus of Panama.
Considered as Affording a Passage to Unite the
Pacific with the Atlantic or Western Ocean; and this
Passage (if Practicable) Compared with the Land
Route, over the Buenos Ayres Plaines.”
The Colonial Journal,
No. V (March): 86-101; and Walton, William. 1817.
“Route to the Pacific. Concluded from page 101.”
The Colonial Journal,
No. VI (July): 331-344.
[25]
Biblioteca Americana. 1823.
“X.-Comunicación
entre el océano Atlántico y el océano Pacífico. [Tomado
de la Bibliothèque universelle des sciences,
belles-lettres, et arts, faisant suite à la
Bibliothèque Britannique, rédigée à Genève par les
auteurs de ce dernier recueil; tome xxii, à Genève,
1823]”;
La Biblioteca americana, o Miscelánea de literatura,
artes y ciencias: Por una sociedad de Americanos.
Published
by Andrés Bello and Juan García del Río. Vol I
(1823): 115-129; London: G. Marchant; Humboldt,
Alexander von. 1810.
Vues des Cordillères, et monumens des peuples
indigènes de l’Amèrique.
Paris: F. Schoell.
[26]
Humboldt, Alexander von. 1817.
Des lignes isothermes et de la distribution de la
chaleur sur le globe.
A Paris: De l’imprimerie de Ve. H. Perronneau;
Humboldt, Alexander von.
1820-1821. “On Isothermal Lines, and the
Distribution of Heat over the Globe.”
The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,
Vols. III-V, Nos. 5-9: 1-20, 256-274, 23-37,
262-281, and 28-39, respectively.
[27]
For example, Humboldt (vol. I, p. 65) also quoted
Charles Lyell’s paper “On a recent Formation of
Freshwater Limestone on Forfarshire,” which was read
in 1824 and 1825 but not published until 1829 in the
Transactions of the Geological Society of London.
The publication schedule must have been known well
in advance.
[28]
Brewster, David. 1826. “Meteorology.”
The Edinburgh Journal of Science.
Conducted by David Brewster. Edinburgh: John Thomson
and London: T. Cadell. Vol. IV, No. VII (Nov.-Apr.):
180.
[29]
Atkinson, Henry. 1826. “XVI. On Astronomical and
other Refractions; with a connected Inquiry into the
Law of Temperature in different Latitudes and at
different Altitudes. Read January 14, April 8, and
May 13, 1825.”
Memoirs of the [Royal] Astronomical Society of
London,
Vol. II, London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 137-260.
[30]
Brewster, David. 1827. “Art. XV.—Notice respecting
the Mean Temperature of the Equator.”
Edinburgh Journal of Science,
Vol. VI, No. XI (Nov.-Apr.): 117-120, here p. 118.
[31]
Examples of Humboldt collaborating with various
contemporary naturalists in processing his data may
be found in, e.g., Fiedler, Horst and Leitner,
Ulrike. 2000.
Alexander von Humboldts Schriften.
Bibliographie der selbständig erschienenen Werke. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 217.