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Carl Wilhelm Hahn
Carl Wilhelm Hahn (Lat. Carolus Guilielmus Hahn, 16 December 1786 – 7 November 1835) was a German zoologist and author of the first German monograph on spiders. C. W. Hahn was an all-round natural scientist – not at all unusual for his time. Surprisingly, he seems to have been almost forgotten. Even the few biographical dates[2][3][4] that have been published in secondary literature are not always correct as clarified by P. Sacher in his "attempt at a Biography".[5]
Carl Wilhelm Christian Hahn was born in Weingartsgreuth, Upper Franconia, as the first son of Johann Michael Hahn (1734–1824), who was court and palace gardener on the estate of Baron von Seckendorff, later palace gardener for Count Friedrich von Pückler. He obeyed the general call to arms as early as 1813, and served as a quartermaster, and in 1816, received his honourable discharge.[6] Afterwards, he lived with his parents in Fürth, and according to Hahn, made up his mind to devote his life to his predilection for natural history, an interest he had possessed since early childhood and which intensified during his studies in Erlangen. He commenced work on his first ornithological work, Birds from Asia, Africa, America and New Holland. When his "often promised and well earned position"[7] failed to materialize, Hahn undertook what was for that time, in his field, a very unusual step and went freelance. From then on, he called himself a natural historian and occasionally also a scholar. On 24 February 1820, having in the meantime qualified as a Dr. Phil. at the University of Erlangen, he married Victoria Francisca Kaltdorff, née Schaefer. His wife, the widow of a doctor of medicine, was about five years older than he, and had three children by her previous marriage. She was at this time without means, but was expecting quite large inheritance from her maternal uncle before long. Their own child, Anna Friedericke, was born at the end of 1820 or 1821.
Hahn is assumed to have been in close contact with the universally known natural scientist Jakob Sturm, and probably with his two sons. He named a spider species after Jakob: Araneus Sturmii, now Atea sturmi (Hahn, 1831)[8]. His relationship with Johann Georg Wagler must have been similarly close. He also named a spider species after him: Lÿcosa Waglerii, now Pardosa wagleri (Hahn, 1822)[9]. Nothing reliable is known about other contacts within the remarkably productive Nuremberg zoologist scene, nor does any proof exist that Hahn knew Franz von Paula (von) Schrank personally, a highly regarded natural scientist, to whom he dedicated the "Monograph on Spiders". The scientific value of Hahn's lifework in natural history varies. His ornithological work, for example, never had any discernible influence on this field. Hahn's work on the true bugs (Heteroptera), though, is just as important as his works on spiders (Araneae). One species of bug even carries his name: Lopus hahni Stål, 1860. He was also given this honour in the field of arachnology: Carl Ludwig Koch, who continued "Die Arachniden" after Hahn's death, called a genus after him in 1841 (Hahnia), on which later the name of the whole family was based – Hahniidae Bertkau, 1878.
Hahn died in Nuremberg on 7 November 1835, "of a lung complaint in the prime of life".[10]
About the rarity of the work - today, only about 14 – partially incomplete – copies are known. They were recorded and examined by Sacher[11] from Germany (Wittenberg, Berlin, Jena, Darmstadt, Erlangen, Kiel, Munich, Frankfurt/M.), England (London), U.S.A. (Cambridge/Mass.), Austria (Vienna), and France (Paris). "Monographie der Spinnen" has become a rarity already at the beginning of the 20th century.[12] This rarity is because only small editions were produced: "More than a hundred copies of each installment will not be produced.", remarked Hahn on this subject in 1820. The great rarity of complete copies probably results primarily from the long gap between installments. Ascertaining whether Hahn broke with his publisher or Lechner with him has not been possible, but a separation took place some time before the publication of the sixth installment. Indeed, in 1831, the first installment of "Die Arachniden" had already appeared in Zeh's Bookshop in Nuremberg as an obvious substitute for the "Monographie der Spinnen". It was more accessible, thus also better known than the "Monographie der Spinnen". In the sixth installment of the "Monographie der Spinnen", publisher Lechner 1831 inserted a small-format "message", which announced that Hahn had been relieved as editor. Probably the contents of the sixth installment still can be wholly attributed to Hahn, though he had only admitted to the first five installments. For obvious reasons, Lechner was not in a position to print anything new, though he still had original drawings in his possession, which he published without Hahn's consent. For this reason alone, competing with Hahn's new project was already impossible. So not surprisingly, the promised ninth installment failed to appear.
In the past, some confusion arose regarding the year of publication, particularly of the installments 2, 5, and 7,[13][14][15][16][17][18] probably caused both by the partial absence of dated forewords and of dust jackets for the individual installments, as by the fact, that the bookshop and later (1822) publisher, Lechner did not only provide installments that were sold later with a nonoriginal cover, but in a good many cases also overwrote the year of publication with the year of sale. On basis of recent investigation,[19] the correlation between installments and the years of publication has been clarified as:
A definitive representative copy of "Monographie der Spinnen" probably does not exist (any more). The available copies differ in several features as detailed pointed out by Sacher.[20] For this reason, it was used a combined version for the reprint of 1988.
"Monographie der Spinnen", though, is far more than just a bibliophilic work.
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Carl Wilhelm Hahn
Carl Wilhelm Hahn (Lat. Carolus Guilielmus Hahn, 16 December 1786 – 7 November 1835) was a German zoologist and author of the first German monograph on spiders. C. W. Hahn was an all-round natural scientist – not at all unusual for his time. Surprisingly, he seems to have been almost forgotten. Even the few biographical dates[2][3][4] that have been published in secondary literature are not always correct as clarified by P. Sacher in his "attempt at a Biography".[5]
Carl Wilhelm Christian Hahn was born in Weingartsgreuth, Upper Franconia, as the first son of Johann Michael Hahn (1734–1824), who was court and palace gardener on the estate of Baron von Seckendorff, later palace gardener for Count Friedrich von Pückler. He obeyed the general call to arms as early as 1813, and served as a quartermaster, and in 1816, received his honourable discharge.[6] Afterwards, he lived with his parents in Fürth, and according to Hahn, made up his mind to devote his life to his predilection for natural history, an interest he had possessed since early childhood and which intensified during his studies in Erlangen. He commenced work on his first ornithological work, Birds from Asia, Africa, America and New Holland. When his "often promised and well earned position"[7] failed to materialize, Hahn undertook what was for that time, in his field, a very unusual step and went freelance. From then on, he called himself a natural historian and occasionally also a scholar. On 24 February 1820, having in the meantime qualified as a Dr. Phil. at the University of Erlangen, he married Victoria Francisca Kaltdorff, née Schaefer. His wife, the widow of a doctor of medicine, was about five years older than he, and had three children by her previous marriage. She was at this time without means, but was expecting quite large inheritance from her maternal uncle before long. Their own child, Anna Friedericke, was born at the end of 1820 or 1821.
Hahn is assumed to have been in close contact with the universally known natural scientist Jakob Sturm, and probably with his two sons. He named a spider species after Jakob: Araneus Sturmii, now Atea sturmi (Hahn, 1831)[8]. His relationship with Johann Georg Wagler must have been similarly close. He also named a spider species after him: Lÿcosa Waglerii, now Pardosa wagleri (Hahn, 1822)[9]. Nothing reliable is known about other contacts within the remarkably productive Nuremberg zoologist scene, nor does any proof exist that Hahn knew Franz von Paula (von) Schrank personally, a highly regarded natural scientist, to whom he dedicated the "Monograph on Spiders". The scientific value of Hahn's lifework in natural history varies. His ornithological work, for example, never had any discernible influence on this field. Hahn's work on the true bugs (Heteroptera), though, is just as important as his works on spiders (Araneae). One species of bug even carries his name: Lopus hahni Stål, 1860. He was also given this honour in the field of arachnology: Carl Ludwig Koch, who continued "Die Arachniden" after Hahn's death, called a genus after him in 1841 (Hahnia), on which later the name of the whole family was based – Hahniidae Bertkau, 1878.
Hahn died in Nuremberg on 7 November 1835, "of a lung complaint in the prime of life".[10]
About the rarity of the work - today, only about 14 – partially incomplete – copies are known. They were recorded and examined by Sacher[11] from Germany (Wittenberg, Berlin, Jena, Darmstadt, Erlangen, Kiel, Munich, Frankfurt/M.), England (London), U.S.A. (Cambridge/Mass.), Austria (Vienna), and France (Paris). "Monographie der Spinnen" has become a rarity already at the beginning of the 20th century.[12] This rarity is because only small editions were produced: "More than a hundred copies of each installment will not be produced.", remarked Hahn on this subject in 1820. The great rarity of complete copies probably results primarily from the long gap between installments. Ascertaining whether Hahn broke with his publisher or Lechner with him has not been possible, but a separation took place some time before the publication of the sixth installment. Indeed, in 1831, the first installment of "Die Arachniden" had already appeared in Zeh's Bookshop in Nuremberg as an obvious substitute for the "Monographie der Spinnen". It was more accessible, thus also better known than the "Monographie der Spinnen". In the sixth installment of the "Monographie der Spinnen", publisher Lechner 1831 inserted a small-format "message", which announced that Hahn had been relieved as editor. Probably the contents of the sixth installment still can be wholly attributed to Hahn, though he had only admitted to the first five installments. For obvious reasons, Lechner was not in a position to print anything new, though he still had original drawings in his possession, which he published without Hahn's consent. For this reason alone, competing with Hahn's new project was already impossible. So not surprisingly, the promised ninth installment failed to appear.
In the past, some confusion arose regarding the year of publication, particularly of the installments 2, 5, and 7,[13][14][15][16][17][18] probably caused both by the partial absence of dated forewords and of dust jackets for the individual installments, as by the fact, that the bookshop and later (1822) publisher, Lechner did not only provide installments that were sold later with a nonoriginal cover, but in a good many cases also overwrote the year of publication with the year of sale. On basis of recent investigation,[19] the correlation between installments and the years of publication has been clarified as:
A definitive representative copy of "Monographie der Spinnen" probably does not exist (any more). The available copies differ in several features as detailed pointed out by Sacher.[20] For this reason, it was used a combined version for the reprint of 1988.
"Monographie der Spinnen", though, is far more than just a bibliophilic work.