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Sources on Blumenbach’s skull collection |
 Blumenbach in his study with a human skull in a glass box. After an undated glass picture (around 1835?) by Heinrich Friedrich Wedemeyer. Detail; click to enlarge. From Ebstein, Erich: „Aus Blumenbachs Studierstube.“ In: Archiv für die Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik 4 (1912), p. 234–238, here p. 235. |
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The Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen owns four manuscript catalogues of Blumenbach’s skull collection (Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 1 to 4) and two short lists documenting the arrangement of the skulls in the storage cabinets (Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 4 Anhang).
The catalogues were in use one after the other (partly also side by side) from 1793 to (at least) 1836. Since they follow each other in time without a gap, it can be assumed that no other handwritten directories existed.
The catalogues contain information on the origin and donor of the skulls and often also on the time when a skull entered the collection. Sometimes the entries on an individual skull in the four inventories are of different completeness. It may therefore be necessary to consult all of them in order to find all existing information on a skull. Digital copies of the directories are available online (see below). |
| The Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen also has an archive box (Cod. Ms. Blumenbach V) with dossiers, which probably represent the contents of Blumenbach’s own documentation on the skulls.
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| Further sources on the history of the skull collection are the labels on the skulls themselves, historical publications, and Blumenbach’s correspondence.
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9 sheets in folio, written on one side, bound; (later?) foliation in pencil. Digital version; transcription as reading aid (searchable PDF). |
| Date of origin |
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Originally written in 1793, supplemented in 1794 (original list of skulls received up to and including 1793; addendum of seven skulls received in 1794). |
| Contents and structure |
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List of 80 skulls and three skull parts, without subheadings. Sequence of the skulls according to geographical origin, probably oriented on Blumenbach’s scheme of human varieties, and summarized according to ethnic groups: [Europe and Russian Empire:] three skulls of Jewish inhabitants of Göttingen, followed by skulls from Frenchmen, Dutchmen, Italians, Poles, “Gypsies”, Danes, Finns, Russians, Tatars, Kirghizs, Kazakhs, Georgians; [Middle East:] Turks, Egyptian mummy; (Asia:] Kalmyks, Yakuts, Buryats, Tungusians; followed by seven “Negro” skulls from the USA, Europe and Africa; [America:] “Eskimos”, North American “Indians”, “Caraibes”; [Southeast Asia:] “New Hollanders”; one “O-Tahite”. |
| Contents of the entries |
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The individual entries, some of which have been heavily edited, contain information on the skull’s ethnic origin and affiliation and state the donor and year of receipt (seven entries without specifying a year of receipt), and – if applicable – the illustration in the Decades craniorum. |
| Numbering |
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The list has an original numbering (large figures in reddish brown ink), which was later crossed out. Below the old numbers, separated by a horizontal line, the numbering of Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 2 was added in small figures in light red ink. |
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| Number of pages |
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227 sheets in folio, written on one side, bound; (later?) foliation in pencil. Digital version; transcription as reading aid (searchable PDF). |
| Date of origin |
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The list of the skull collection seems to have been completed in 1794. Entries to the remaining object groups were still made after 1800. |
| Contents and structure |
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Complete catalogue of Blumenbach’s private collection (osteological and medical specimens, zoological and botanical objects, shells, paintings, medals).
Fol. 1–25 Index of the anthropological apparatus, summarized under the decoratively underlined main heading “Zur Naturgeschichte des Menschengeschlechts” (cf. next main heading fol. 29: “ad Osteologiam humanam”); subtitles: “Schedel-Sammlung” (fol. 2–14), “Foetus” (fol. 16), “Haare” (fol. 18–20), Spirituspräparate (fol. 22–24), “Varia” (fol. 25).
The listed 79 skulls already appear in the catalogue Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 1 (two unnumbered skulls from Scheveningen and Murten, listed in Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 1 before No. 5, are missing). They are also the same as in the printed catalogue in Blumenbach’s De generis humani varietate, 3rd edition, (1795), with contains, however, three skull more (Nos. 29, 30 and 38 in the printed list).
Structure, arrangement and section headings (in German translation) of the manuscript skull catalogue are identical with the didactic-thematic, i.e. non-geographical, structure of the printed (Latin) Catalogue. Between skull No. 19 and No. 20, however, there is a section “Hingegen zum Erweis der Unzulänglichkeit der Camperschen Facial-linie zur Bestimmung der National-verschiedenheit der Schedel-Formen” (Whereas [the following skulls serve] as proof of the inadequacy of [Pieter] Camper’s facial angle for the determination of the national diversity of the skull forms), which is missing in the printed version. The skulls (printed list) Nos. 49, 59, 76, 81, 82 and 39 are placed in this section. As of fol. 7 (skull No. 20), the manuscript list again corresponds to the printed version (with a few minor changes in the sequence). |
| Contents of the entries |
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The details on the origin of the skulls are mostly, but not always, identical with those in the older directory Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 1 (see e.g. Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 1, fol. 1 No. 4: “Skull of an Italian who died at Moscow of a sudden death, and therefore came to the local anatomical theatre. […].” The information “and therefore came to the local anatomical theatre” is missing in Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 2, fol. 9 No. 35). |
| Numbering |
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Originally unnumbered list. The numbers of the printed version were subsequently added with red ink, up to no. “28” above the lines, then into free space at the beginning of the indented first line of each entry. |
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Pages XXI to XLII from De generis humani varietate, 3rd edition, (1795), interleaved with empty sheets of the same height but double width, and 38 additional sheets; bound; (later?) foliation of the interleaved sheets in pencil. Digital version. |
| Date of origin |
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Begun 1795; probably the skull list was regularly updated until ca. 1816, cf. entry no. “82bb” about a skull which Blumenbach received in 1816. The list of paintings etc. was continued even after 1816, cf. the last dated supplement from 1832 (fol. 32). |
| Contents and structure |
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List of 144 skulls.
On the inner half of the each interleaved sheets there is handwritten additional information to the 82 printed Latin short descriptions of the skulls. On the outer half of the interleaved sheets, there are designations and details on the origin of 62 skulls acquired after 1795, inserted in the places where they belong according to the classification system of the register.
Fol. 12–50 detailed information on portraits, paintings and plaster casts. |
| Contents of the entries |
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Additional information to some of the 82 short skull descriptions of the printed Latin catalogue (mostly about the absence of the mandible). The entries for the 62 skulls acquired after 1795 include the identification of the skull, the name of the donor and, if applicable, a reference to an image in the Decades craniorum, but do not contain any indication of the year of donation or acquisition (exception Nos. “37b” and “74”). |
| Numbering |
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The skulls acquired after 1795 have numbers consisting of the number of the preceding skull of the original list and a superscript Latin or Greek lower case letter (e.g. “38c ”, “33ε”).
The numbers assigned to skulls in this list are also used in the labels on the skulls themselves. |
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| Number of pages |
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26 sheets in folio, written on both sides, bound; pagination with red ink at the upper outer corner of each page, foliation with pencil at the upper inner corner of the recto side pf the sheets. Enclosed 4 sheets in folio with very short selection lists of skulls (see Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, no. 4 appendix). Digital version; transcription as reading aid (searchable PDF). |
| Date of origin |
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Started in 1817; additions in the following decades. The most recent datable additions (p. 2, no. 9c; p. 9, after no. 76) refer to an ancient Greek and a Turkish skull which Blumenbach received from King Ludwig I of Bavaria on 2 May 1836. |
| Contents and structure |
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Title by Blumenbach’s hand: “Catalogus meiner Schedelsammlung und des übrigen dazu gehörigen anthropologischen Apparats. 1817” (Catalogue of my skull collection and the other anthropological apparatus belonging to it. 1817).
Consecutively numbered list with originally 149 numbers (plus 3 monkey skulls), arranged according to thematic aspects: “Complete mummies”, “Heads of mummies”, “More skulls of ancient peoples”, “Modell skulls of the five main races”, “Heads of middle races, transitions”, “The remaining collection arranged according to the five main races”.
The list of skulls is followed by sections on “characteristic foetus of the original race and the two extreme races”, “specimens of the hair of some of the peoples of the different races”, “various specimens in spirit mostly of the Ethiopian race”, “some of the most exquisite oil paintings and drawings etc. from the numerous collection of portraits of foreign peoples belonging to this anthropological apparatus”, “drawings of certain parts of the body strangely formed by some peoples”; “plaster casts”, “writings composed by Negroes or other so-called savages”.
All sections contain numerous additions from the decades after 1817, which are arranged confusingly and sometimes difficult to read. |
| Contents of the entries |
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The entries for the 149 skulls and mummies already recorded in the older catalogues are rephrased and shortened compared to the older entries (e.g. the name of the donator is omitted frequently), but sometimes also extended (e.g. p. 10 No. 90, where the name of Baron von Asch is omitted, whereas the name of “[Friedrich August Marschall von] Bieberstein” (1768–1826), missing in Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 3, fol. 8, No. 74b, is added). The entries sometimes contain references to illustrations in the Decades craniorum. Only in a few entries the year of donation or acquisition is indicated. |
| Numbering |
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The original entries were given a new consecutive numbering; at the end of these entries there is the older number from the previously used catalogue Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 3, which is noted also on the right temporal bone of the skulls. The entries added later usually have no numbering. |
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| Number of pages |
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4 sheets in folio, two columns, bound. Digital version. |
| Date of origin |
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Two lists (here referred to as “a” and “b”), made after 1806 (cf. No. 82e–82g: three skulls from Brazil, which Blumenbach received in 1806, cf. Dougherty, Frank William Peter: Commercium epistolicum J. F. Blumenbachii. Göttingen 1984 (digitised version), p. 80 cat. no. 90), but before 1816, since, for example, a skull donated by Christian Heinrich Friedrich Hesse (1772–1832) in 1816 does not appear. This skull, however, appears in Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 3 (No. “82bb“). Therefore the lists were probably made around 1806, but – unlike the catalogue Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 3 – were not updated. |
| Contents and structure |
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List “a” (p. 1–3) is a numbered list (148 skulls, plus a “[casting of the alleged skull of] Raffael in plaster”).
List “b” (p. 5–8) shows the arrangement of the skulls in four cabinets with six shelves each.
Originally list “a” contained only 142 skulls and ended on page 3 after three quarters of the first column with the number “85c”; the entries of five more skulls (and the plaster cast of the Raphael skull) with the numbers 86 to 92 start in the right column. These skulls are contained in list “b” (see below), but the numbers from list “a” are missing. On the other hand, list “b” contains some entries for which – despite the indication of a number – there is no equivalent in list “a” (first cabinet, second row: “Hindi from Bengal 90b”; this number also appears on the corresponding skull and otherwise only – crossed out – in directory I, no. 4, p. 10).
Some entries in list “b” are crossed out and replaced by others, probably to document a rearrangement of the skulls; the corresponding position information in list “a” was updated in these cases. |
| Contents of entries |
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The entries in list “a” consist of a serial number, an indication of the ethnic origin of the skull with optional addition of the place of origin or the donor and a reference to the position of the skull in the four storage cabinets (cabinet [A-D], shelf [1-6], position [a- ...]).
The entries in list “b” consist only of an indication of ethnic origin (very rarely supplemented by place of origin or donor) and the number in list “a” (except for the addendum numbers 86 to 92). |
| Numbering |
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Order and numbering of the skulls in list “a” correspond to the printed catalogue with handwritten annotations (Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 3). However, the supplements “33α–33ε” (opposite p. XXXI), concerning skulls which Blumenbach received around or after 1817, are missing. |
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W. Meyer’s assessment “nicht von Blumenbach’s Hand” (not by Blumenbach’s hand) is incorrect, cf. [Meyer, Wilhelm:] Die Handschriften in Göttingen. Bd. 3. Universitätsbibliothek. Nachlässe von Gelehrten, Orientalische Handschriften. Handschriften im Besitz von Instituten und Behörden. Berlin: A. Bath, 1894 (Verzeichniss der Handschriften im Preussischen Staate, 1, Hannover, 3), p. 76; digitised version. |
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| Number of pages |
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Box with 61 folders, 569 sheets in total. |
| Date of origin |
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ca. 1785 bis 1839. |
| Contents and structure |
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Folders labelled according to ethnic groups with Blumenbach’s correspondence and notes on one or more skulls. The inscriptions on the present-day covers of some of the folders with the names of the ethnic groups are not in Blumenbach’s hand. According to [Meyer, Wilhelm:] Die Handschriften in Göttingen. Bd. 3. Universitätsbibliothek. Nachlässe von Gelehrten, Orientalische Handschriften. Handschriften im Besitz von Instituten und Behörden. Berlin: A. Bath, 1894 (Verzeichniss der Handschriften im Preussischen Staate, 1, Hannover, 3), pp. 77–80 (digital version), there are 61 folders, presently (Jan. 2024) there are 60 folders. Meyer lists 41 folders “with remarkable letters”. However, the box also contains (presently) 19 folders on other ethnic groups, without letters (therefore not named by Meyer): “Böhmen”, “Bulgar”, “Buschmann”, “Calmucci”, “Celebes-Ins.”, “Hottentott”, “Inder”, “Jude”, “Konäger v[el] Kadjack”, “NeuHolland”, “Papu”, “Russen”, “Südsee-Insulaner”, “Schitgaganen”, “Tahitier”, “Türcke”, “Tungusen”, “Schädel eines Wenden”, “Zigeuner”. Digitized versions of the folders “Bosjesmann” and “Caffer”. |
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The folders were given to the University Library in 1893 by the Anatomical Institute of the University of Göttingen, cf. record of the Kalliope-Verbund. These are possibly the contents of the dossiers Blumenbach created to document the origin and authenticity of the skulls in his collection, cf. Blumenbach’s brief mention of these dossiers already in De generis humani varietate nativa. Editio tertia. Gottingae: Apud Vandenhoek et Ruprecht, 1795. Bibliography-no. 00004, p. XXII, and somewhat more detailed in Beyträge zur Naturgeschichte (1806, bibliography-no. 00112), pp. 63–65: “As to the other of the two questions mentioned above [i. e. the question of «how can any one be certain of the genuineness of the foreign skulls»], it will be most easily answered by this fact, that every skull is numbered, and has its own particular description in a special collection of the incidents belonging thereto, which contains all the certificates of them, and the original letters, notices, and a comparison with copies, like portraits, […], and also with the characteristic descriptions of the most exact writers of natural history, and of travellers”. (Transl. The anthropological treatises of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach …. Translated by Thomas Bendyshe. London : Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green, 1865, bibliography-no. 00010, pp. 301–302.) Today’s dossier structure according to ethnic groups does not, however, correspond to the organisation according to individual skulls described by Blumenbach in 1806. |
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Skull with inscription. Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Zentrum Anatomie, Blumenbachsche Schädelsammlung Nr. 664; cf. Decas craniorum II, No. 17. Click to enlarge. |
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In addition to the labels (mostly in the form of stick-on labels) of collectors, donors or previous owners, there are inscriptions by Blumenbach himself on the skulls. These inscriptions are usually on the right temporal bone and on the right side of the lower jaw (if present) in order to ensure the correct attribution of skull and jaw. In addition, some skulls have further inscriptions by Blumenbach, for example on the forehead (e.g. “Otaheite”, “Caribe”). The inscriptions were made with black ink and are of varying legibility due to fading etc.
The scope of the inscriptions varies between a single geographical or ethnic indication in the genitive (“Angli”, “Islandi”) and detailed information on the donator, year of acquisition and illustration in the Decades craniorum (“Otaheite, d. Bar. Banks 1794 Dec. III tab. 26”; “Grönländerin d. Erbpr. v. Daenemark, 18[…]8“).
About two thirds of the inscriptions begin with a number, consisting of Arabic numerals and sometimes a superscript Latin lower case letter (e.g. “38c”). These numbers are those in the handwritten list in Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 3, kept until 1816, and the two lists of 148 skulls Cod. Ms. Blumenbach I, No. 4 Anhang. In the inscriptions on the skulls added to the collection after 1816 such numbers are missing. |
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Printed catalogue of the skull collection and the anthropological apparatus (1795) |
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Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich: De generis humani varietate nativa. Editio tertia. Gottingae: Vandenhoek et Ruprecht, 1795 (bibliography-nr. 0004), S. XXI–XLIV: “Index supellectilis anthropologicae auctoris”, S. XXII: I. “Crania diversarum gentium” (82 items), S. XXXV: II. “Foetus egregie characteristici varietatis mediae et binarum extremarum”; S. XXXVI: III. “Pili et capilli diversarum gentium”; S. XXXVI: IV. “Praeparata anatomica”; S. XXXVII: V. “Collectio imaginum diversarum gentium [...]”. |
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There are translations into German (bibliography-no. 0008), English (bibliography-no. 0010), French (bibliography-no. 0016) and Dutch (bibliography-no. 0019). |
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Blumenbach provided more detailed information on about 100 skulls in the Decades collectionis suae craniorum diversarum gentium illustratae and in some individual essays. |
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Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich: Decades collectionis suae craniorum diversarum gentium illustratae. 6 booklets. Gottingae: Dieterich 1790–1820.
Decas 1 (1790), bibliography-no. 0092, Decas 2 (1793), bibliography-no. 0093, Decas 3 (1795), bibliography-no. 0094, Decas 4 (1800), bibliography-no. 0095, Decas 5 (1808), bibliography-no. 0096, Decas 6 (1820), bibliography-no. 0097. |
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Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich: Nova pentas collectionis suae craniorum diversarum gentium tanquam complementum priorum decadum. Gottingae: Dieterich 1828, bibliography-no. 0098. |
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Jo. Frid. Blumenbachii nova pentas collectionis suae craniorum diversarum gentium tamquam complementum priorum decadum. Nach dem Tode des Verfassers herausgegeben von H. v. Jhering. Göttingen: Dieterich, 1873, bibliography-no. 0099. |
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Interleaved copies of the six Decades and the Nova pentas (1828) with Blumenbach’s handwritten additions are in the Göttingen State and University Library, Cod. Ms. Blumenbach II, bibliography-no. 0100 (digital version).
In the Göttingen Library there also is a volume (Cod. Ms. Blumenbach 4) with “Blumenbach’s Notizen und einige[n] Entwürfen zu den Decades”, cf. [Meyer, Wilhelm:] Die Handschriften in Göttingen. Bd. 3. Universitätsbibliothek. Nachlässe von Gelehrten, Orientalische Handschriften. Handschriften im Besitz von Instituten und Behörden. Berlin: A. Bath, 1894 (Verzeichniss der Handschriften im Preussischen Staate, 1, Hannover, 3), p. 77 (digital version). |
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The Decades are originally seven lectures about ten skulls each, given between 1789 and 1826 at the Göttingen Academy of Sciences (then “Societät der Wissenschaften“). The lectures were published in the Society’s Commentationes in Latin and with copper engravings of the skulls (also published as separate prints). |
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Of the ten skulls presented in 1826, Blumenbach published only five. In 1873 Hermann von Jhering (1850–1930) published five plates prepared by Blumenbach but not published during his life time, to which Jhering added the German texts of Blumenbach’s report about his lecture at the Academy of Sciences in the Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen.
In the comments on the 70 skulls shown, their origin (donor; circumstances of procurement; not the date of receipt) is documented, in many cases in the form of literal quotations (translated into Latin) or paraphrases from the correspondence with the donors. In addition, in his comments Blumenbach often refers to other skulls in his collection that are not depicted and also gives information about their origin. |
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The engravings were all made by Ernst Ludwig Riepenhausen (1762–1840). The models for the engravings in Decas I to VI (1790–1820) were probably drawn by Johann Samuel Zimmer (1751–1824), whose name is given in the signature of plate I of Decas I (“S. Zimmer del[ineavit] Riepenh[ausen] f[ecit]”). Since the subsequent plates up to plate LIX are unsigned, it seems that they originate from the same artists. Only the last plate of this group again has a signature (Decas VI (1820), plate LX: “Riep[enhausen] del[ineavit] & sc[ulpsit]”), and was thus both drawn and engraved by Riepenhausen. For the ten plates of Nova Pentas [I] (1828) and [II] (1873) Friedrich Wilhelm Eberlein (1784–1845) and Riepenhausen then worked together, cf. the signature on plate LXI (“Eberlein del[ineavit] Riepenh[ausen] s[e]n[ior] sc[ulpsit] c[um] seq[uentibus]”).
On Friedrich Wilhelm Eberlein cf. Schulze, Elke: Nulla dies sine linea. Universitärer Zeichenunterricht – eine problemgeschichtliche Studie. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2004, pp. 109 and 202.
On Ernst Ludwig Riepenhausen cf. Kunze, Max (ed.): Antike zwischen Klassizismus und Romantik. Die Künstlerfamilie Riepenhausen. Mainz: Winckelmann Gesellschaft und Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 2001, pp. 1–6.
On Johann Samuel Zimmer cf. Schulze, loc. cit., pp. 106 and 209. |
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Another engraving, different from the one in Decas 3, plate XXI, of the female skull from Georgia was published with a short comment in Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich: Abbildungen naturhistorischer Gegenstände. 6. Heft. Göttingen: Heinrich Dieterich, 1802, Nr. 51 (0707). It is possible that the model for this unsigned engraving was made by Christian Koeck (1758–1818), cf. Dougherty, Frank William Peter: The correspondence of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. Rev., augm. and ed. by Norbert Klatt. Band 4 (1791–1795). Göttingen: Klatt, 2012, p. 482 nr. 0957, here S. 483 note 2 (Digitalisat).
On Koeck cf. Geus, Armin: “Christian Koeck (1758–1818), der Illustrator Samuel Thomas Sömmerrings”, in: Mann, Gunter; Dumont, Franz (Hg.): Samuel Thomas Soemmerring und die Gelehrten der Goethezeit. Stuttgart und New York: 1985, pp. 263–278. |
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Blumenbach’s detailed reports (in German) on the lectures in the Göttingischen Anzeigen für gelehrte Sachen (GAgS; from 1802: Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen, GgA): |
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Decas 1: GAgS 1790 (3. Stück, 4. Januar), pp. 25–29. Bibliography-no. 0325.
Decas 2: GAgS 1793 (33. Stück, 28. Februar), pp. 321–324. Bibliography-no. 0351.
Decas 3: GAgS 1795 (60. Stück, 13. April), pp. 601–604. Bibliography-no. 0363.
Decas 4: GAgS 1799 (172. Stück, 28. Oktober), pp. 1713–1716. Bibliography-no. 0413.
Decas 5: GgA 1806 (157. Stück, 2. Oktober), pp. 1561–1566. Bibliography-no. 0468.
Decas 6: GgA 1816 (209. Stück, 30. Dezember), pp. 2081–2085. Bibliography-no. 0577.
Nova Pentas (1828) and Nova Pentas (1873): GgA 1826 (121. Stück, 31. Juli), pp. 1201–1206. Bibliography-no. 0625 |
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In two cases, the skulls described in the GAgS/GgA reports differ from those in the Decades: In Decas V (1808) one skull (No. 45) was exchanged compared to the (earlier) report; Decas VI (1820) contains five skulls other than the corresponding GgA report, two of which were described in a separate report in GgA 1818 (112. Stück, 13. Juli), pp. 1113–1115 (bibliography-no. 0582). |
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There are also descriptions of individual skulls: |
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GAgS 1786 (187. Stück, 25. November), pp. 1873–1874 (three skulls donated by von Asch). Bibliography-no. 0296. |
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GgA 1833 (177. Stück, 4. November), pp. 1761–1763 (several skulls). Bibliography-no. 0648. |
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Note
In GAgS 1801 (21. Stück, 5. Februar), pp. 201–202 (bibliography-no. 0426), Blumenbach reports on two skulls sent from Moscow in 1800 by Johann Konrad Hiltebrand (1747–1831). They are presented as examples of the healing capacity of cranial bones. Blumenbach does not discuss their affiliation to a certain type of skull, i.e. he does not include them in his anthopological research. The skulls did not belong to Blumenbach’s private collection either, but are explicitly described as being in the possession of the Academisches Museum, their mention in the handwritten inventory created by Blumenbach “Notizen zu allerhand im Museum”, p. 39r (digital version via Göttinger Digitalisierungszentrum). So far, they could not be located in today’s so-called “Blumenbachsche Schädelsammlung” (University Medicine Göttingen, Centre for Anatomy), the basis of which was Blumenbach’s private skull collection purchased for the university in 1840. |
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In 1877 a list of the Göttingen skull collection, which had grown considerably in the meantime, was published: |
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Spengel, Johann Wilhelm: Die von Blumenbach gegründete Anthropologische Sammlung der Universität Göttingen. Aufgenommen im Jahre 1874. Braunschweig: Vieweg, 1877 (= Die anthropologischen Sammlungen Deutschlands. Band 2); digitised version |
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Spengel catalogued 437 skulls, which were in the Anatomical Institute of the University of Göttingen in 1874, and further “verschiedene anthropologische Gegenstände” (various anthropological objects). In the footnotes to the list entries, he identifies the skulls dating back to Blumenbach with the code letters “Bl.” and apparently quotes information from Blumenbach’s hand-written collection directories or other records of Blumenbach. Spengel does not indicate the numbers used in Blumenbach’s catalogues, so that no direct comparison with the handwritten catalogues is possible. |
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Blumenbach’s correspondence with the donors of the skulls is preserved in many cases. The comparison with the texts in the Decades shows that in many cases the information on the origin and procurement of the skulls is given by quotations (translated into Latin) or narrow paraphrases from the donor’s letters. |
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There is a modern edition of the correspondence up to and including 1805: Dougherty, Frank William Peter: The correspondence of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. Rev., augm. and ed. by Norbert Klatt. Band 1–6 (1773–1805). Göttingen: Klatt, 2006–2015. Brosamen zur Blumenbach-Forschung; 2, 3, 4, 6, 7. Volumes 3 to 6 (correspondence from the years 1786 to 1805) are available online as searchable pdf files. |
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The edition contains not only letters from and to Blumenbach, but also letters from third parties, which were forwarded to Blumenbach for the purpose of documenting the origin of the skull, cf. e.g. the letter by Friedrich Wilhelm Schenck to Georg Thomas von Asch of 5 Dec. 1797 with a report on the origin and finding situation of two skulls, printed in Dougherty, Correspondence 5 (2013), letter No. 1099 pp. 179–180, and another report on these skulls quoted ibid., letter No. 1177 pp. 298–300, here p. 300 note 15. |
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For the period after 1805 individual letters are published in:
Dougherty, Frank William Peter: Commercium epistolicum J. F. Blumenbachii. Aus einem Briefwechsel des klassischen Zeitalters der Naturgeschichte (Ausstellungskatalog). Göttingen: Arbeitsstelle zur Edition des Blumenbach-Briefwechsels in der Niedersächsischen Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, 1984 (digitised version),
and in den edited correspondence of Blumenbach’s correspondents, e.g. Joseph Banks, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe or Samuel Thomas Soemmerring. |
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Unedited letters from the period after 1805 can be found in volumes of Blumenbach’s estate in the Göttingen State and University Library:
- Cod. Ms. Blumenbach III
„74 fol. Briefe welche mehrere Schädel betreffen“ from the years 1785 to 1829, cf. list in [Meyer, Wilhelm:] Die Handschriften in Göttingen. Bd. 3. Universitätsbibliothek. Nachlässe von Gelehrten, Orientalische Handschriften. Handschriften im Besitz von Instituten und Behörden. Berlin: A. Bath, 1894 (Verzeichniss der Handschriften im Preussischen Staate, 1, Hannover, 3), p. 77 (digital version).
- Cod. Ms. Blumenbach V (see above).
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