Cosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe [Complete in 5 vols.]

London: Henry G. Bohn. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849, 1851, 1852, 1858. Complete in 5 vols. Original red cloth. First English Editions. Humboldt sought to present a harmonious view of the entire cosmos or universe in this single work. He drew on his extensive travels in such places as South and Central America and Central Asia and laid the foundations for such areas of research as physical geography, meteorology, biogeography, and seismology. He influenced Poe, Whitman, Emerson, and Thoreau. Humboldt has been attracting increased interest in the twenty-first century. Vol. 1: Previous owner's signatures in ink, slight wear at head of spine, Very Good. Vol. 2: Previous owner's signatures in ink, small chip at the head of the spine, one leaf roughly opened, Very Good. Vol. 3: Small physician's bookplate, previous owner's name in ink, Very Good. Vol. 4: Small edge tears with slight wear at head of spine, two leaves in the catalogue at the rear roughly opened, Good. Vol. 5: Slight wear at head and foot of spine, spine substantially darkened to the point of being a different red than the other volumes, Good. The German edition (1845-62) is described in Printing and the Mind of Man 320, which calls the work "one of the last really comprehensive physical surveys ever to be attempted." Humboldt really considered this work to be "his life work." . Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. 1849.