AUGUSTUS HEINRICH PETERMANN

Abstract

WE regret to record the sudden death, at Gotha, on September 26, of Dr. Augustus H. Petermann, one of the first cartographers of the present day. He was born at Bleicherode, in the neighbourhood of Nordhausen, Prussia, April 18, 1822. Although destined by his parents for the church, a pronounced taste for geographical study led to his entrance, at the age of seventeen, into the Geographische Kunstschule, founded shortly before at Potsdam, by Berghaus. Here, under the guidance of this famous geographer, he made rapid progress, and soon attracted the attention of leading savants. Among others Humboldt became interested in him, and entrusted him, when but nineteen years of age, with the preparation of the map accompanying his well-known work on Central Asia. Four years later, in 1845, he went to Edinburgh, in order to assist in the preparation of the English edition of the great Physical Atlas of Berghaus, issued by Johnston. Accompanying Petermann to Edinburgh was Henry Lange (now Dr. Lange, of the Berlin Statistical Bureau). These two, along with the late Keith Johnston, made an interesting tour through the Scottish Highlands, one result of which was a sketch or diagram of the Grampian range by Petermann, which he afterwards, we believe, published in London. In 1847 he settled in London, and was promptly elected into the Royal Geographical Society. His seven years' residence in London (1847-54) was one of continuous activity. Aside from the numerous maps which he executed, he contributed regularly to the Athenæum a résumé of the progress of geographical discovery, and issued, in union with Thomas Milnef, an “Atlas of Physical Geography,” and a fine folio atlas to illustrate Barth and Oberweg's travels in Africa. Two other maps which Petermann brought out during his stay in London still maintain their place on Stanford's list—a hydrographical and a population map of the British Islands. It was the publication of these maps, we believe, which enabled him to obtain the favourable notice of Baron Bunsen, who materially assisted Petermann in his progress. His connection with English publishers has always been close, and the last edition of the “Encyclopædia Brittanica” contains a number of admirable geographical articles from his pen. In 1855 he returned to his native land to take the management of Justus Perthes′ Geographical Institute in Gotha, where an unlimited field was offered to his restless activity. In the same year he commenced the publication of the Mittheilungen, the successor of the Geographisches Jahrbuch, started by Berghaus. Under his careful editorship this periodical has become almost indispensable to those desiring to keep au courant with the progress of geographical discovery. No small portion of its rich and varied contents, as well as of its finely-executed maps, were due directly to Petermann. As cartographer Petermann was unwearied, and a constant succession of admirable maps have been executed by him during the past twenty-five years. Among these we might mention especially a great part of the magnificent collection forming Stieler's “Grosser Atlas,” completed two years since; the map of the United States (1875), regarded by the government officials of that country as the most perfect extant; the maps accompanying the African travels of Barth and Rohlfs; and the lately-issued charts of the Arctic regions and the Turkish empire.