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Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent
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Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent (Penguin Classics) Paperback - 1996

by Humboldt, Alexander

  • Used
  • Paperback

Description

Penguin Classics. New Ed. Paperback. Used; Very Good. Simply Brit – welcome to our online used book store, where affordability meets great quality. Dive into a world of captivating reads without breaking the bank. We take pride in offering a wide selection of used books, from classics to hidden gems, ensuring there’s something for every literary palate. All orders are shipped within 24 hours and our lightning fast-delivery within 48 hours coupled with our prompt customer service ensures a smooth journey from ordering to delivery. Discover the joy of reading with us, your trusted source for affordable books that do not compromise on quality. 11/30/1995
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Details

  • Title Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent (Penguin Classics)
  • Author Humboldt, Alexander
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition New Ed
  • Condition Used; Very Good
  • Pages 400
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Classics, London
  • Date May 1, 1996
  • Abridged Yes
  • Features Abridged
  • Bookseller's Inventory # 3835488
  • ISBN 9780140445534 / 0140445536
  • Weight 0.68 lbs (0.31 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.9 x 5.12 x 0.98 in (20.07 x 13.00 x 2.49 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Latin America
  • Library of Congress subjects Scientific expeditions, South America - Description and travel
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 96150402
  • Dewey Decimal Code 918

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First line

Twelve years have elapsed since I left Europe to explore the interior of the New Continent.

From the rear cover

Alexander von Humboldt became a wholly new kind of nineteenth-century hero - the scientist-explorer - and in Personal Narrative he invented a new literary genre, the travelogue. Between 1799 and 1804 he explored the tropical Spanish Americas, by his death in 1859 he had won international fame. He was the first European to discuss, draw and speculate on Aztec art, the first to observe reverse polarity in magnetism, the first to propagate the notion of seismic waves, the first to discover why America is called America. A true Romantic, an admirer of Rousseau and close friend of Goethe, Humboldt was a passionate observer, never a colonial despoiler, and his writings made a profound impact upon the course of Victorian science. This volume contains a fascinating selection from Humboldt's original 1,997 pages of Personal Narrative, in the first English translation to appear since 1851.

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About the author

Alexander von Humboldt was born on the family estate at Tegel in Berlin in 1769. With his elder brother Wilhelm he was educated by tutors and then at Frankfurt, Gttingen and Hamburg Universities where he studied botany, literature, archaeology, electricity, mineralogy and the natural sciences. In 1790 he traveled abroad and published his first works in botanical and chemical journals. While at Jena he befriended Goethe. He worked in the Prussian Mining Administration until his mother died in 1796. A large inheritance enabled Humboldt to travel; after a few frustrations he was allowed by Charles IV of Spain to travel in the Spanish American colonies at his own expense, with his companion Aim Bonpland. After five years in the New World (1799-1804) Humboldt settled in Paris to begin publishing his encyclopaedic Relation historique du voyage aux regions quinoxiales du nouveau continent, finally completed in thirty volumes in 1834, where the Personal Narrative comprised volumes 28 to 30. Humboldt was not only a prominent figure in the Parisian scientific world but also Chamberlain to Friedrich Wilhelm III, and Councilor of State to Friedrich Wilhelm IV. In 1829 he traveled to Russia and Central Asia and published his account in French in 1843. In 1834 he began his comprehensive survey of creation, Kosmos, completed posthumously in 1862. He died in 1859, a bachelor, and was buried in the family vault at Tegel, honored as one of the great speculative scientific travelers of the nineteenth century.

Jason Wilson was born in Mauritius in 1944, Was a lecturer at Kings College, London, and is currently Reader in Latin American Literature at University College, London. He has published Octavio Paz: A Study of his Poetics (1979), Octavio Paz (1986), An A-Z of Latin American Literature in English Translation (1989), the Traveler's Literary Companion to South and Central America (1993) and essays on W.H. Hudson, Charles Darwin, Julio Cortzar and Latin American poetry.