Publication

The cartographic surveys and sketches, astronomical observations, and hydrographic measurements and experiments carried out by Marsili along the course of the Danube and many other rivers and tributaries during the Great Turkish War (1683-99) and the subsequent process of demarcating the Habsburg-Ottoman border (1699-1701), in addition to his studies into archaeological remains and inscriptions, minerals, fish, birds, plants and insects, formed the basis for the maps drawn and the material gathered for the Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus.

Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus: Observationibus Geographicis, Astronomicis, Hydrographicis, Historicis, Physicis (The Hague & Amsterdam, 1726), i, p. [1]. Vignette.

Marsili was greatly assisted in this endeavour by Johann Christoph Müller (1673-1721) who was a pupil of the astronomer, copperplate engraver and instrument maker Georg Christoph Eimmart (1638-1705) in Nuremberg. Müller worked as a cartographer, astronomer, draftsman and personal secretary for Marsili from 1696 to 1703.[1] He not only drew maps from the surveys, sketches and notes that Marsili and other military engineers made available to him during the war and the border demarcation, but he also collaborated with Marsili in carrying out surveys, measurements and observations as well as arranging the descriptions and presentation of the material.[2] Müller worked primarily on the Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus from 1696 to 1699 and the border demarcation between 1699 and 1701. He worked in Nuremberg during 1702 and 1703 drafting maps that he would send, along with proofs of engravings, to Marsili to check and comment upon before the final versions were made.

Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Aloysi Ferdinandi comit. Marsigli Danubialis operis prodromus: Ad Regiam Societatem Anglicanum (Nuremberg, 1700), title page. Courtesy of Österreichisches Nationalbibliothek.

A sixty page prospectus entitled Aloysi Ferdinandi comit. Marsigli Danubialis operis prodromus : Ad Regiam Societatem Anglicanum was published by the firm of Endter in Nuremberg in 1700, which provided a detailed summary of the arrangement and contents of the proposed six-volume book. Marsili addressed the foreword of the prodromus to the Fellows of the Royal Society in London and dedicated the proposed book to Emperor Leopold I.[3] A book review of the prodromus appeared in the 31 December 1701 issue of the Royal Society’s journal, Philosophical Transactions, which drew attention to Marsili’s scientific credentials by citing his previous treatises on the Bosphorus Strait, Osservazioni intorno al Bosforo Tracio overo canale di Constantinopoli … (Rome, 1681) and the fluorescent properties of the mineral ‘Bologna stone’, Dissertazione epistolare del fosforo minerale o sia della pietra illuminabile Bolognese … (Leipzig, 1698).[4]

Georg Christoph Eimmart was responsible for co-ordinating and supervising the copperplate engraving of the maps and illustrations that were made for the Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus in Nuremberg. The engraver August Christian Fleischmann (fl. 1687-1736), who had engraved the legends for the maps and illustrations, completed the engravings that were left unfinished by Eimmart after his death.[5] The preparations for the publication of the Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus came to a halt, however, after Marsili was dismissed from the Austrian imperial army by a military tribunal in February 1704 following the surrender of Breisach Castle in September 1703, where he had been second in command. This likewise resulted in him losing the financial support of Emperor Leopold I.[6] The maps, illustrations, notes, manuscript volumes and copperplate engravings connected to the project in Nuremberg and Vienna were brought to Bologna, which subsequently formed part of Marsili’s donation to the Senate of Bologna.[7]

An opportunity arose to publish both the Histoire physique de la mer and the Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus while Marsili was in the Netherlands between 1722 and 1723. Marsili had deposited the manuscript of Histoire physique de la mer in the library of the Académie des Sciences in Paris in 1710, but he later sent it to Bologna with the intention of having the book published there.[8] The manuscript was sent to Amsterdam where it was published by the printers Dépens de la Compagnie in 1725 with a preface by the noted botanist and chemist Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738). Marsili also entered negotiations to publish his Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus, which concluded with the signing of a contract with the printers and booksellers François Changuion (1694?-1777?) and Hermanus Uytwerf (1698-1754) of Amsterdam and Pierre Gosse (1676?-1755), Rutger Christoffel Alberts (1691-1732), and Pieter de Hondt (fl. 1723-63) of The Hague, which stipulated a number of conditions, on 16 March 1723.[9]

Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Prodromus Operis Danubialis Ab Aloisio Ferdinando Comite Marsili Regiarum Societatum Parisiensis, Londinensis, & Monspeliensis Socio Editi: Et Subscriptionis via Orbi Litterario propositi (Amsterdam & The Hague, [n.d.]), title page. Courtesy of Österreichisches Nationalbibliothek.

The contract obliged Marsili to carefully arrange in order and package all of his material on the Danube, including the manuscript text, the maps and illustrations that were not yet engraved and the completed copperplates, which were in the Accademia della Scienze dell’Istituto di Bologna and send them overland to the printers in the Netherlands at their expense as soon as possible. The larger geography and hydrography maps that had not yet been engraved were to be sent first to give the printers sufficient time to have them engraved in Amsterdam. The publishers were required to return the manuscripts, maps, illustrations and copperplates to the institute in Bologna once they were finished with them after printing except for the drawings of the frontispieces that Marsili would get drawn in Italy and the copperplates that the printers would get engraved in the Netherlands. The printers insisted that the material they would return to Bologna would not be used to publish another edition within a hundred years.[10] The contract also stipulated that Marsili would be given books to the value of 10,000 Dutch florins that would be selected as being suitable for the institute in Bologna as payment for the publication of Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus.[11] 625 copies of the six-volume set would be printed and Marsili would receive twenty free copies.[12]

Marsili started preparing the Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus material for printing when he went back to Bologna, which entailed revising, correcting and expanding parts of the publication. Additional drawings and engravings had to be made and his secretary at the time, Girolamo Melani, made corrections to Marsili’s Latin.[13] Antonio Rossi (1700-73), a pupil of one of the leading artists of the Academia Clementina in Bologna, Marcantonio Franceschini (1648-1729), was commissioned by Marsili to draw the frontispieces of Volumes III to VI, while Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674-1755) from Rome drew the frontispiece of Volume II.[14] The frontispiece of Volume I was commissioned by the Dutch publishers and all six frontispieces were engraved in the Netherlands.[15] Frederick Ottens (fl. 1717-70) drew and engraved the frontispiece of the first volume, as indicated by the Latin inscription on the bottom right-hand corner of the engraving, ‘F. Ottens delineavit et fecit 1725’, and he also engraved the frontispiece of the second volume. Jacobus Houbraken (1698-1780) engraved the four frontispieces of Volumes III to VI.

All of the material was in the possession of the Dutch publishers by the end of 1724. A new forty two page prospectus entitled Prodromus Operis Danubialis Ab Aloisio Ferdinando Comite Marsili Regiarum Societatum Parisiensis, Londinensis, & Monspeliensis Socio Editi: Et Subscriptionis via Orbi Litterario propositi was printed and distributed to raise subscriptions in 1725.[16] The six-volume Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus: Observationibus Geographicis, Astronomicis, Hydrographicis, Historicis, Physicis was finally published in 1726. Dr Edward Worth (1676-1733) is listed as subscriber No. 115 in the list of subscribers contained in the first volume of the set, which lists 181 copies assigned to 105 subscribers. Worth’s copy is signed by the five printers and booksellers and his subscriber’s number is annotated on the top left-hand corner of the page he is listed on.

Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus: Observationibus Geographicis, Astronomicis, Hydrographicis, Historicis, Physicis (The Hague & Amsterdam, 1726), i, title page.

A six-volume French language edition entitled Description du Danube, depuis la montagne de Kahlenberg en Autriche, jusqu’au confluent de la rivière Jantra dans la Bulgariae: contenant des observations geographiques, astronomiques, hydrographiques, historiques et physiques was published by Johannes Swart (1685-1759) in The Hague in 1744. Antal András Deák writes that it is likely that the engravings that were used in the 1744 edition were printed from the same copperplates at the same time as the 1726 edition since they are identical in size and the legends are in Latin.[17]

TEXT: Mr Antoine Mac Gaoithín, Library Assistant at the Edward Worth Library.

SOURCES

Anon. ‘IV. Account of a book, viz. Aloysi Ferdinandi comit. Marsigli danubialis operis Prodromus. Ad Regiam Societatem Anglicanam. Fol. 1700 [Book review]’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 22, no. 276 (31 December 1701), 1038-1041.

Deák, Antal András (ed.), A Duna Fölfedezése. Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus. Tomus I, A Duna Magyarországi és Szerbiai Szakasza = The Discovery of the Danube. Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus. Volume I, The Hungarian and Serbian Section of the Danube (Budapest, 2004).

Deák, Antal András, Maps from under the shadow of the crescent moon = Térképek a félhold árnyékából = Carte geografiche dall’ombra della mezzaluna = Landkarten aus dem Schatten des Halbmondes (Esztergom, Hungary, 2006).

Deák, Antal András, ‘Marsigli, Luigi Ferdinando’, in Matthew H. Edney & Mary Sponberg Pedley (eds), The History of Cartography. Volume 4, Cartography in the European Enlightenment (Chicago & London, 2019), pp 920-922.

Deák, Antal András, ‘Müller, Johann Christoph’, in Matthew H. Edney & Mary Sponberg Pedley (eds), The History of Cartography. Volume 4, Cartography in the European Enlightenment (Chicago & London, 2019), pp 1019-1020.

McConnell, Anita, ‘L. F. Marsigli’s Voyage to London and Holland, 1721-1722’, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 41, no. 1 (1986), 39-76.

McConnell, Anita, ‘A Profitable Visit: Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli’s Studies, Commerce and Friendships in Holland, 1722-23’, in C.S. Maffioli & L.C. Palm (eds), Italian scientists in the Low Countries in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries (Amsterdam, 1989), pp 189-206.

McConnell, Anita, ‘L. F. Marsigli’s Visit to London in 1721, and His Report on the Royal Society’, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 47, no. 2 (1993), 179-204.

Sartori, Renzo, ‘Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, founding father of oceanography = Luigi Ferdinando Marsili fondatore dell’oceanografia’, in Gian Battista Vai & William Cavazza (eds), Four centuries of the word geology : Ulisse Aldrovandi 1603 in Bologna = Quadricentenario della parola geologia : Ulisse Aldrovandi 1603 Bologna (Bologna, 2003), pp 169-177.

Stoye, John, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730 : the life and times of Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, soldier and virtuoso (New Haven & London, 1994).

[1] Deák, Antal András (ed.), A Duna Fölfedezése. Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus. Tomus I, A Duna Magyarországi és Szerbiai Szakasza = The Discovery of the Danube. Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus. Volume I, The Hungarian and Serbian Section of the Danube (Budapest, 2004), pp 104 & 120; Deák, Antal András, ‘Müller, Johann Christoph’, in Matthew H. Edney & Mary Sponberg Pedley (eds), The History of Cartography. Volume 4, Cartography in the European Enlightenment (Chicago & London, 2019), p. 1019.

[2] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, p. 124.

[3] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, pp 129-130; Stoye, John, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, pp 148 & 162.

[4] Anon. ‘IV. Account of a book, viz. Aloysi Ferdinandi comit. Marsigli danubialis operis Prodromus. Ad Regiam Societatem Anglicanam. Fol. 1700 [Book review]’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 22, no. 276 (31 December 1701), 1038-1041.

[5] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, p. 123.

[6] Deák, Antal András, ‘Marsigli, Luigi Ferdinando’, in Matthew H. Edney & Mary Sponberg Pedley (eds), The History of Cartography. Volume 4, Cartography in the European Enlightenment (Chicago & London, 2019), p. 921; McConnell, Anita, ‘L. F. Marsigli’s Visit to London in 1721, and His Report on the Royal Society’, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 47, no. 2 (1993), 183; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, pp 239-246.

[7] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, pp 124 & 130; Stoye, John, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, pp 251 & 253.

[8] Sartori, Renzo, ‘Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, founding father of oceanography = Luigi Ferdinando Marsili fondatore dell’oceanografia’, in Gian Battista Vai & William Cavazza (eds), Four centuries of the word geology : Ulisse Aldrovandi 1603 in Bologna = Quadricentenario della parola geologia : Ulisse Aldrovandi 1603 Bologna (Bologna, 2003), p. 176; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 296.

[9] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, p. 132; McConnell, Anita, ‘A Profitable Visit: Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli’s Studies, Commerce and Friendships in Holland, 1722-23’, in C.S. Maffioli & L.C. Palm (eds), Italian scientists in the Low Countries in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries (Amsterdam, 1989), p. 197; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 298.

[10] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, pp 132-133; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 299.

[11] McConnell, McConnell, Anita, ‘A Profitable Visit’, pp 197-198; McConnell, ‘L. F. Marsigli’s Visit to London in 1721’, 189; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 299.

[12] McConnell, ‘A Profitable Visit’, pp 197-198; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, pp 299 & 300.

[13] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, p. 133; McConnell, ‘A Profitable Visit’, p. 200; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 346.

[14] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, p. 120; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 302.

[15] Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, p. 302.

[16] McConnell, ‘L. F. Marsigli’s Visit to London in 1721’, 189; Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730, pp 300-301.

[17] Deák, The Discovery of the Danube, pp 134-135.