Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Herbette, André Paul

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Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography

Herbette, André Paul

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THIS IS A FICTITIOUS PERSON. There is a remarkable disconnect in that the subject is described as an iconographer, but his career involves botany and submissions to botanical periodicals. Alexander van Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland were on their South American expedition between 1799-1804, meaning they could not have travelled to Paris in 1802, while Humboldt also did not travel to America until May 1804: Humboldt is also mentioned in the fictitious entries of Alexander Koehler and Lorenz Kerckhove.

138163Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography — Herbette, André Paul

HERBETTE, André Paul, French iconographer, b. in Santo Domingo in 1769; d. in Paris in 1817. He served in garrison at Santo Domingo, 1787-'91, and afterward establishing himself in the island of Tortugas, made a rich collection of plants. He left Tortugas in 1798 for the United States, was employed as a master of design in Harvard college, and accompanied Humboldt and Bonpland to Paris in 1802. There, with Poiteau and Turpin, Herbette was given the task of illustrating Humboldt's publications concerning America, and had exclusive charge of the iconography, 1803-'11. He also contributed designs to botanical periodicals in Germany, France, and England, and published “Aperçu sur la situation politique de Saint Domingué” (Paris, 1809; 2d ed., with charts, revised, 1817); “Traité d'iconographie végétale des Antilles” (2 vols., 1807); and “Dictionnaire raisonné d'iconographie végétale" (1815). Humboldt acknowledges his obligations to Herbette.