Abstract
Two letters from the surviving eighteenth-century correspondence between the polymath professor of history FrantiĹĄek AntonĂn SteinskĂ˝ in Prague and his friend, the merchant Joseph Donath in Philadelphia reveal an interesting episode in the transatlantic connections between Central Europe and North America. On the one hand, Donath’s scientific observations conducted on behalf of SteinskĂ˝ and his associates reveal the shared enlightened pursuits between both regions, while on the other hand, Donath’s scorn for the perceived political backwardness of his former compatriots reflect the widening divide ushered in by the Age of Revolutions. Alongside the first biographical accounts of both Donath and SteinskĂ˝ in English, this article presents for the first time a full transcription of two letters sent from Philadelphia to Prague in the 1790s. It explores the role of science and political discussion within their friendship across the Atlantic and contributes towards unearthing the wider interplay of interpersonal relationships between two different socio-political systems, namely a monarchy and republic.
Highlights
A surviving collection of letters addressed to the Bohemian academic František Antonín Steinský (1752–1816) contains a number of interesting correspondents.[1]
Among twenty-two letters, one finds a diverse array of important intellectuals of the eighteenth century. These include Father Antonio Piaggio, the Vatican’s conservator of ancient manuscripts who was among the first to study the papyri discovered in the ruins of Herculaneum near Naples; Karl Heinrich Seibt, one of the leading academics and Catholic theologians in Prague; and Karel Rafael Ungar, the Premonstratensian antiquarian and librarian.[2]
The most famous author within this collection is the polymath American revolutionary Benjamin Franklin, whom Steinský met during a trip to Paris in 1781.3 Franklin was well-known in Europe as the inventor of the lightening rod and his role as a representative of the revolutionary American republic increased his celebrity at this time.[4]
Summary
A surviving collection of letters addressed to the Bohemian academic František Antonín Steinský (1752–1816) contains a number of interesting correspondents.[1] Among twenty-two letters, one finds a diverse array of important intellectuals of the eighteenth century. Donath’s frankness and cheeky indirect tone with Steinský underline his serious critique of the Habsburg regime from an emigrant’s point of view It forms an interesting but unnoticed connection between the Czech lands and the United States.[9] These letters, presented in an edited form for the first time below, reveal the web of social and commercial transatlantic ties in Central Europe at the end of the eighteenth century.
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