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Letters of Alexander von Humboldt to Varnhagen von Ense. / From 1827 to 1858. With extracts from Varnhagen's diaries, and letters of Varnhagen and others to Humboldt cover

Letters of Alexander von Humboldt to Varnhagen von Ense. / From 1827 to 1858. With extracts from Varnhagen's diaries, and letters of Varnhagen and others to Humboldt

Chapter 189: 181. (ENCLOSED.) GRAND DUKE CHARLES ALEXANDER OF SAXE-WEIMAR TO HUMBOLDT.
By Alexander von Humboldt
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Essays, Letters & SpeechesGerman LiteratureHistory - Modern (1750+)

About This Book

A curated correspondence collects letters from Alexander von Humboldt to his friend and confidant Varnhagen von Ense, supplemented by diary excerpts and letters from other contemporaries. The missives blend personal friendship with professional exchange, discussing scientific observations, lectures, manuscripts, travels, and reactions to peers and events. Editorial apparatus preserves original phrasing and provides contextual notes and extracts that illuminate relationships and chronology. The selection highlights the writer’s methods of observation, precise descriptive habits, and modes of intellectual collaboration. Together the documents form a compact portrait of an engaged scholar whose private reflections and public endeavors intersect across a wide range of topics.

181.
(ENCLOSED.)
GRAND DUKE CHARLES ALEXANDER OF SAXE-WEIMAR TO HUMBOLDT.

At the Chateau of Berlin,
Tuesday Morning.

Had I had the skill of the Marquis of St. Germain, of whom, if I am not mistaken, it is told that one fine morning he departed through four gates at one and the same time, I could not have been more desirous to find M. von Varnhagen than I was. Nevertheless, it was all in vain. No one could tell me where he lived, and it was of no use to take the measure of the “Maurenstrasse.” Nature having made me the most obstinate of all Grand Dukes, I still persist in my intention to see the invisible, and hasten to attain that consummation by requesting your Excellency to tell me where M. de Varnhagen actually does live. Pardon my repeated importunities; but in conscience I know of no route which could be shorter or more direct. I remain, with the inextinguishable attachment of the most devoted admiration and veneration for your Excellency,

Charles Alexander.