The edition of the Correspondence of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach

• Applicant: Dr. Norbert Klatt (†)
• Subject Area: History of Science
• Term: from 2010 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 170176376

The transcribed letters to and from Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, preserved in the remain papers of the late Dr. Dougherty, including items found recently, will be published successively with English annotations. The publication of Blumenbachs correspondence, a central figure of the biological and geological sciences in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, will close a gap of the recognition of the scientific processes of the time. Five years of the correspondence will be united and published in a volume. Added with registers and several lists the size of the volume in each case amounts to approximately 500 pages. This scale was exceeded in the fourth volume. The same will be happen in the fifth volume. The first two volumes of the edition (appearing in 2006 and 2007) are availibale in print, the third volume (2010) and the fourth volume (2012) are published as an electronic publication. The fifth volume is currently in the state of correction. With the publication of the fifth volume (1796-1800) the letters from 1774 to 1800 (c. 1400 items) will be represented. The fifth volume will be released later this year (2012). The sixth volume (the letters from 1801 to 1805, and now largely transcribed), can expected to be presented in the summer of 2013.ScheduleVolume 1 appeared in 2006Volume 2 appeared in 2007Volume 3 appeared in 2010Volume 4 appeared in 2012Volume 5 will be appear at the end of 2012Volume 6 will be appear in the summer of 2013Volume 7 will be appear in the spring of 2014Volume 8 will be appear at the end of 2014Volume 9 will be appear in the summer of 2015Volume 10 will be appear in the spring of 2016

• DFG Programme: Research Grants