James Yates an Wilhelm von Humboldt, 10.01.1829


49 Upper Bedford Place. Russell Square.
London Jan.y 10.th 1829.

My dear Baron,

I have now the pleasure of writing to your Excellency respecting the possibility of obtaining a transcript of the copy of Bertonio’s Vocabulario de la Lengua Aymara. This, I fear, is next to impossible. The work is in one quarto volume, the Spanish and Aymara consisting of 474 pages, the Aymara and Spanish of 399. The print is rather small, and the forms and orthography of the Aymara are so unlike the European that even a Spanish scholar would be able to make an accurate transcript only by the most minute attention and the most perserving labour. On these accounts it appeared to me vain to attempt the task of transcription.

You will be glad to know that D.r Rosen stands here in the highest estimation as a scholar, although he has hitherto obtained but few pupils. He now chiefly employs himself in acquiring a knowledge of the Hindoostanee, a language here of the greatest practical importance, as it is that which is most generally spoken in India.

I have nearly completed the translation of the "Ansichten der Natur," but have not yet been able to make an arrangement with a bookseller for the publication of it.[a]

I have seen some announcement of an English translation |of| your brother’s Lectures on Physical geography[b], which, I hope, will be published. To him and to the Baroness von Humboldt I beg to present my best compliments. If I can render you any assistance in your very interesting pursuits, I trust you will communicate your wishes to me, and I remain

Your Excellency’s faithful and obed.t friend
James Yates.
M.rs Yates desires her best respects to the Baroness and to Miss von Humboldt.




To His Excellency
the Minister von Humboldt
Berlin.

Fußnoten

    1. a |Editor| Diese Übersetzung von Yates ist, wenn sie denn fertiggestellt wurde, nie in den Druck gegangen. Die erste englische Übersetzung stammt von Elizabeth Juliana Leeves Sabine: Alexander von Humboldt (1849): Aspects of Nature, in Different Lands and Different Climates; with Scientific Elucidations, translated by Mrs. Sabine, in two volumes, London: J. Murray & Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. [FZ]
    2. b |Editor| Alexander von Humboldt hielt im Wintersemester 1827/28 an der Berliner Universität und in einem zweiten, teilweise parallel verlaufenden Zyklus an der benachbarten Singakademie Vorträge über die Physische Erdbeschreibung, mit Prolegomenen über Lage, Gestalt und Naturbeschaffenheit der Gestirne – später als »Kosmos-Vorträge« bezeichnet. Publiziert wurden sie erst Jahre später in überarbeiteter Form: Kosmos: Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung, 5 Bände (Stuttgart/Tübingen: Cotta 1845–1862). Von den Originalvorlesungen existieren aber zahlreiche Nachschriften von Hörern, und eine digitale Edition ist in Arbeit (s. hierzu das Projekt Hidden Kosmos — Reconstructing Alexander von Humboldt’s »Kosmos-Lectures« an der HU Berlin).