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| LINNAEUS' NOTEBOOK FROM 1725 |
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LINNAEUS' FIRST YEARS AT SCHOOL
Embosomed in the southern Swedish county of Småland lies Växjö, the town where Linnaeus first went to school. Even today one can visit his school building - the old grammar school, Gymnasium, next to the cathedral.He was only a seven year old boy when he came to Växjö to embark on his education with the tutor Johan Telander. Later, he acquired the reputation of being a good "knower of plants", an interest which absorbed so much of his time that once he had moved up to the Gymnasium his other studies were sidelined. In 1726 his teachers felt themselves obliged to advise his father rather to put his son into some trade or other as "he was unable to achieve anything with the book". The county medical officer Johan Rothman - also father of the Linnaeus Apostle Göran Rothman - intervened as mentor and provides the young Linnaeus and his parents with such support that Carl could continue his studies. Rothman undertook to teach Carl medicine and Latin and further to encourage his interest in natural history by reading Boerhaave, for instance, and Tournefort and Plinius. This is where his path to becoming one of the foremost naturalists in the world had its beginning, which would affect mankind's view of nature for ever after.
VOLUMES 1-3
The book, generally referred to as "Örtaboken", the Book of Plants, clearly reflects young Linnaeus' wide ranging thoughts in note form. There are also a few sketches, drawings and tables. The format of the notebook is 100x150mm and it contains 169 pages. In their relatively complicated approach, the notes reveal a mature young man with hints of brilliance.
Volume 1 will be a complete facsimile edition of the Notebook and will reproduce as accurately as is possible the 18th century original. The next volume, Volume 2, includes the complete transcription, page for page, into English. Here the sometimes hard-to-read notes in the Notebook become accessible. The volume will be published following both the format and pagination of the original. In the concluding volume, Volume 3, the author Torbjörn Lindell contributes his comments on the texts in the Notebook. The young Linnaeus quotes from about 70 learned oeuvres which are commented on - why and how did Linnaeus have access to those, their characters, scientific and scholarly significance and where they occur in the writing of the Notebook. It is possible to follow how the young Linnaeus developed through his own choice of sources. Not unexpectedly, it then transpires that the later notes refer to more purely scientific works. Particular attention will naturally be devoted to the sections where Linnaeus draws on his very own resources. Other chapters in the volume present descriptions of surroundings of importance for the genesis of the Notebook. The environment of both home and school is of great interest in this context - included therefore are biographical descriptions of his father and his circle of learned friends as far as the home environment is concerned, and for the school mainly of his mentor Johan Rothman. How education was carried out in the 18th century is of great importance. Linnaeus did, after all, partly enjoy a private education, and that is the reason behind the descriptions of his years at Växjö as well as his earlier years at Stenbrohult. An analysis of Linnaeus' autobiographical notes from these years at school will be compared with other sources. Little is known about what happened to the Notebook after his time at school 1727. New research that is going on within the project will be described in the book. Volume 3 concludes with references and an extensive index of search words. The volume will be in a format double the size of the original, that is 200x300mm.
About the Author (Vol. 3): Torbjörn Lindell FLS, Linnaeus bibliophile and expert. Founder of "The Lindell Collection", one of the most outstanding private collections of Linnaeus literature .
SUBSCRIPTION - LIMITED EDITION
You can sign up today for a subscription of the Limited Edition which will be sent directly to your address in the first quarter of 2009, this edition will be published in only 500 numbered copies. |
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