Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn

“Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn (1809-1864) was a German geographer and naturalist and is considered to be the unsurpassed master of scientific research and reproduction of Java. He joined the Netherlands Indies Army as a medical officer in 1834. In 1845 he became a member of the Natural Sciences Commission. He made numerous excursions in Java, climbed all mountains and inspected many craters. The first result of all of his investigations is this monumental work, a semi-autobiography, in which his description of the flora is still unsurpassed. Also included is the account of his arrival in the Netherlands and his voyage to the Dutch East Indies. His great example was Alexander von Humboldt's decription of America. The extraordinary plates, lithographed by E. Baensch, depict situation-sketches and profiles of Javanese volcanoes.”--Antiquarian bookseller's description. Of the lithographs, 36 are concerned with volcanoes; some include sketches of architectural ruins and sculptures; 2 folded plates are cross-sectional line-drawing profile elevation maps of Java.