Humboldt, Alexander von

Kosmos. Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung. Stuttgart & Tübingen: Cotta, 1845. [With:] Bromme, Traugott. Atlas zu Alex. V. Humboldt's Kosmos: in zweiundvierzig Tafeln mit erläuternden Texte. Stuttgart: Krais & Hofmann,[1851]



5 volumes, 8vo (8 3/8 x 5 in.; 212 x 127 mm), and atlas, oblong 4to (10 7/8 x 13 in.; 276 x 330 mm). 42 plates in atlas, mostly lithographed and engraved colored maps and charts; a few scattered spots and dampstains in text, light marginal browning in atlas. Contemporary half morocco and marbled boards; text volumes joints rubbed, the atlas volume not uniform and rebacked with spine laid down and extremities worn.

Milestones of Science 106; PMM 320; Wheeler Gift 1159

First edition, of this comprehensive survey of the world, offering not only a geographic description, but an imaginative picture at the same time.

"In his own words it was meant 'to represent in one work the whole material world, everything we know today of the phenomena in the celestial spaces and of life on earth, from the nebulae to the geography of mosses on granite rocks ... It is meant to describe a chapter in the intellectual development of mankind.' The book contains a complete survey of the physical sciences and their relation to each other" (PMM).