Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz)
Edition
Alexander von Humboldt
Late in his life, Humboldt had his notes from the trip “De Paris à Toulon” added
to the volumes of his American Travel Journals, explicitly marked as “Shall not be
printed”. In its main section, the text offers a dense and highly multifaceted
description of the travel stations, encounters, and hardships on the way through
revolutionary France in 1798. In Paris, Humboldt had bid farewell to his brother
Wilhelm and his sister-in-law Caroline – for an undetermined period of time,
because after earlier journeys within Europe, France was now supposed to be the
starting point for the long-planned research trip lasting several years. Its exact
destination, whether the West Indies, North Africa, or a circumnavigation of the
world, is not fixed, and is constantly subject to change due to armed conflicts
and other obstacles. Together with his companion Aimé Bonpland, Humboldt travels
from Paris to Marseille, where the involuntary waiting time is spent to botanize,
measure, and undertake excursions into the surrounding area. Finally, all hopes of
a passage across the Mediterranean are shattered. Instead, Humboldt and Bonpland
set off from Marseille to Spain, from where they will finally embark on their
journey to the New World in June 1799 onboard the Spanish corvette “Pizarro” after
another six months.
Edited by Christian Thomas
To the edited text