Bref och Skrifvelser of och till Carl von Linné med understöd af Svenska Staten utgifna of Uppsala Universitet

Abstract

SINCE the death of Carl von Linne, better known in this country under his Latinised name of Linnaeus, nearly a score of works have been issued containing selections of his letters, many of them restricted to his relations with a single person, as Jacquin, B. de Jussieu, or Sauvages. But these only dipped into the extensive correspondence which is available, and the Swedish Government has aided the University, of which Linnaeus was so distinguished a professor, to bring out a complete issue of all the letters known to be in existence, as part of the publications commemorating the bicentenary of the birth of the great naturalist in 1907. The editor was, naturally, Emeritus Professor T. M. Fries, who, four years earlier, had produced his monumental life of Linne and was steeped in Linnean lore and knowledge of his contemporaries. Six volumes had been brought out under his editorship when his death, early in 1913, closed his industrious career, and left the series of volumes less than half finished. These six belonged to the first section, devoted to letters to and from Swedes; a seventh was partly prepared, and the first volume of the second section, devoted to foreigners, was in course of preparation when the editor's life closed. The successor to Fries was Dr. J. M. Hulth, chief librarian of the University/of Uppsala, but the time available for the subject so essential was obtained with difficulty by a very busy man. Nevertheless, we have here two volumes for a brief survey-volume 8 of the first section, extending from Kalm to Laxman, and a first volume of the second section, embracing the letters from Adanson to Brunnich.

Bref och Skrifvelser of och till Carl von Linné med understöd af Svenska Staten utgifna of Uppsala Universitet.

Första Afdelningen, Del 8: Bref till och från Svenska enskilda personer Kalm - Laxman. Utgifna och med upplysande noter försedda af J. M. Hulth. Pp. v + 200. 6 kroner. Andra Afdelningen, Utländska brefväxlingen; Del 1: Adanson-Brünnich. Utgifven och med upplysande noter försedd af J. M. Hulth. Pp. viii + 430. 12 kroner. (Uppsala: A.—B. Akademiska Bokhandeln, 1916 and 1922.)