Essay on the Geography of Plants Format: Paperback

Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland

ISBN 10: 022605473X / ISBN 13: 9780226054735

Published by University of Chicago press, 2013

About this Item

Brand New.

Seller Inventory # 9780226054735

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Essay on the Geography of Plants Format: Paperback
• Publisher: University of Chicago press
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 022605473X
• ISBN 13: 9780226054735
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

The legacy of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) looms large over the natural sciences. His 1799–1804 research expedition to Central and South America with botanist Aimé Bonpland set the course for the great scientific surveys of the nineteenth century, and inspired such essayists and artists as Emerson, Goethe, Thoreau, Poe, and Church.


The chronicles of the expedition were published in Paris after Humboldt’s return, and first among them was the 1807 “Essay on the Geography of Plants.” Among the most cited writings in natural history, after the works of Darwin and Wallace, this work appears here for the first time in a complete English-language translation. Covering far more than its title implies, it represents the first articulation of an integrative “science of the earth, ” encompassing most of today’s environmental sciences.  Ecologist Stephen T. Jackson introduces the treatise and explains its enduring significance two centuries after its publication.

About the Authors

Stephen T. Jackson is professor emeritus of botany and ecology at the University of Wyoming.

Sylvie Romanowski is professor of French literature at Northwestern University.