124 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



folio edition of this comprehensive work of 

 Baron Humboldt's travels, closely connected in 

 its separate divisions, was, even in 1844, when 

 many parts which we now possess had not 

 yet appeared, about 391 (2,700 Thaler), twice 

 as much as the well-known national work of 

 France, " Description de TEgypte," and for 

 whose completion the French Government had 

 to advance about 115,000 (800,000 Thaler). 



The enormous expenses of the whole edition 

 become evident from the price of a single 

 copy, and more so when we learn that the cost 

 of printing, paper, and engraving, for this 

 gigantic work, amounted to more than 226,000 

 Thaler (about 32,487. 10s.). Yet this great 

 literary undertaking has been successfully ac- 

 complished by the assistance of the intelli- 

 gent public in all parts of the civilized world, 

 and the great pecuniary sacrifices of Humboldt 

 himself. 



From the year 1808, Alexander von Hum- 

 boldt lived almost exclusively in Paris. In 

 1811 he visited Vienna to take leave of his 

 family (his brother Wilhelm being at that 

 time the Prussian Ambassador to the court of 

 Austria), before setting out on his projected 

 journey to Central Asia and Tibet. The Russian 

 Government had made an offer to Baron Hum- 



