 ”Not
merely within Sweden did Linnaeus pursue a wealth of correspondence
with all Inquiring Parties, but also with many foreigners, and in
particular with the most learned and Inquiring in Europe […]
whereby not only was he promptly notified of what new discoveries
were made in Europe, but also given access to them, so that most
of the Books published were made over to him gratis […] This
valuable collection of Letters would be worthy to be made public,
containing many hundreds of letters, in which is discussed everything
remarkable that has arisen from 1735 until his death."
(From Vita Caroli Linnaei, III)
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Internet publication
of
Linnaeus’ correspondence
In preparation for the 300th anniversary of the birth of Linnaeus
in 2007, a project was started to publish Linnaeus’ correspondence
on the Internet.
Carl Linnaeus was well aware of the scientific value of his correspondence.
By the time of his death in 1778 he had received more than 3,000
letters from Europe, America, Asia and Africa. They came from
natural history scientists like himself, as well as from the disciples
who upon his recommendation had been sent on expeditions all over
the world. In all, Linnaeus had more than 600 correspondents!
Together with the 2,000 letters from Linnaeus himself that are
preserved, this material represents an invaluable source for all
those studying natural history research and scientific culture
in the 18th century.
Available to all
For the 200th anniversary of the birth of Linnaeus 1907, publication
began of the letters to and from Linnaeus. After the 10th volume,
however, the project was halted by lack of funds. For the 300th
anniversary, the publication project was restarted – now
on the Internet. linnaeus.c18.net
The digital publication of Linnaeus’ correspondence is intended
to show the letters in a variety of formats. All the letters that
are preserved as original manuscripts will be published as digital
facsimiles. It will therefore be possible to see the original
appearance of each letter. Each letter is accompanied by a detailed
summary in English, with links to biographical and bibliographical
databases. The summaries and all related texts are in English
because more than 90 per cent of the letters are written either
in Latin or in Swedish. By documenting the content of the letters
in English, we can reach a large readership worldwide.
In addition to this there are a large number of older editions
and translations of Linnaeus’ correspondence available in
pdf format on the website. The website also features a register
of the letters, enabling searching for the correspondence between
Linnaeus and the person in question.
In a later phase we intend to transcribe all the letters.
Publication of the letters is funded by the Swedish central bank
through Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. Main responsibility for the
project is with the Swedish Linnaeus Society, and publication
of Linnaeus’ letters is also supported by the Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences, Uppsala University and Uppsala University
Library, as well as The Linnean Society of London.
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Published material
Linnaeus’ study in his
home in Uppsala.
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