"Alexander von Humboldt's articles and essays give us a more complete picture of the scientist as a writer. During his first ten years of publishing, from 1789 to 1799, Humboldt mainly wrote scientific papers and academic reviews. His endeavors as a writer changed when he embarked on his American journey, from 1799 to 1804, a time during which his reputation grew considerably. The text presents all the 250 texts known to be translated into English during Humboldt's lifetime - a historical sample from the corpus to be newly discovered by English-speaking readers"--