Books and Manuscripts

Michael Faraday Praises German Naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt

Faraday, Michael
Autograph Letter, signed
(London): Royal Institution, August 9, 1858. One sheet folded to make four-pages, 7 1/4 x 4 5/8 in. (184 x 117 mm). Two-page autograph letter, signed by Michael Faraday to English geographer, librarian, and science author Edward William Brayley, regarding eminent German naturalist and explorer Alexander Von Humboldt: “I thank you heartily for your kind letter; & the accounts of and message from Humboldt. He is a wonderful man the world rolls on & scarcely seems to move him. It must have been great pleasure to you to have seen him. From what I hear of him he goes through an amount of Scientific and Society work that would appear to me terrific--especially the Society parts. I gather from what you say that you must have enjoyed your journey altogether. Ever Very Truly Yours M Faraday” Creasing from old folds. Includes a later manuscript transcription of above letter. 

Michael Faraday writes to English author and editor Edward William Brayley (1801-70), praising eminent German naturalist and explorer Alexander Von Humboldt (1769-1859). Faraday and Humboldt began corresponding more than 20 years earlier, in the 1830s, each admirers of the other’s work, and maintained a frequent communication regarding their respective scientific pursuits up until Humboldt's death in 1859. Each pursued scientific research that aimed to delineate the unified quality of the natural world, Faraday through his work on electromagnetism and electrochemistry, and Humboldt through his multi-pronged research that would help establish the concepts of ecology and biogeography.