Xll PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 



He therefore says, "I contest the pretended right 

 even of those who by chance or purchase have 

 become the possessors of confidential letters of mine," 

 and then he protests against such letters being 

 printed, even after his death. 



It was of course quite natural that Humboldt 

 should have denied the right of unrestricted publica- 

 tion of his letters to those who had become possessed 

 of them by purchase or by gift ; nay, more, con- 

 sidering the immense extent of his correspondence, 

 even to those to whom they were originally ad- 

 dressed ; but this by no means excludes the supposi- 

 tion that he might have expressly conferred such a 

 right in any special case, and that consequently it 

 might have been conferred in the present instance. 



Now that such a special case existed with regard to 

 the letters directed to my uncle, is undeniably shown 

 by the passage affixed by me as a motto to the book, 

 from a letter dated 7th December, 1841, of which I 

 will quote here only the following words: "After 

 my speedy decease you may deal as you please with such 

 property" 



Such a publication, therefore, is not at variance 

 with the protest ; on the contrary, the one con- 

 firms the other. In the protest, Humboldt ex- 

 pressly prohibits the printing " of such letters 

 only as I have not myself set aside for publi- 

 cation." It is therefore evident, from that very 

 document, that letter* may, and even must exist 

 somewhere, which Humboldt himself had set aside 



