Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

The fate of the manuscripts of Maximilianus Hell merits particular consideration. As
explained elsewhere in this thesis, Hell had plans for a grand work on his Vardø expedition,
the three-volume Expeditio litteraria ad Polum arcticum. Most parts of this work were never
published, but nothing suggests he destroyed the manuscripts or asked others to do so.
Furthermore, his network of correspondents was wide and diverse, and like any astronomer
seriously engaged in practical astronomy, he certainly cherished the letters he received. After
his death in 1792, however, the manuscript collections of Hell passed onto private hands.
The prominent French astronomer Lalande, in his Bibliographie astronomique (Paris 1803),
explains that he had been in contact with Hell’s successor at the Vienna University
Observatory, Franciscus de Paula Triesnecker, to learn about the fate of the Expeditio
litteraria. Triesnecker answered by letter that he had “been unable to even look at the
manuscripts”, for 88
the inheritors have denied him this satisfaction: this is another reason to regret
the loss of Father Hell. Perhaps Curiosity, which publishes what Jealousy has
been able to hide away, will one day supply us with the publication of these
manuscripts.
Jealousy prevailed beyond the lifetime of both Lalande and Triesnecker. In the copy of the
Copenhagen edition of the Venus transit report from Vardø that is kept at the Vienna
University Observatory, an unknown hand has scribbled (in German) that: 89
After the death of Hell, a Jesuit from Augsburg, by the name Rauscher, is said
to have taken his many manuscripts – in particular the Expeditio litteraria ad
Polum arcticum – to Mogilev, a place in Russia.
In the 1780s and 90s, the Jesuit order was suppressed in all Catholic countries, but it survived
in the Russia of Catherine the Great. Mogilev was an important centre of the Jesuit order in
88 Lalande 1803, p. 722: “M. Triesnecker, habile astronome de Vienne, m’écrit qu’il n’a pu parvenir à voir même
les manuscrits; les héritiers lui ont refusé cette satisfaction: c’est un nouveau motif de regrets sur la perte du P.
Hell. Peut-être que l’intérêt, qui publie ce que la jalousie aurait pu recéler, nous procurera la publication de ces
manuscrits.”
89 Hell 1770a1 (WUS Vienna), note on the inside of the back cover: “Nach den Ende des Hell soll ein Augsburger
Jesuit Nahmens Rauscher seine viele Handschriften besonders die Expeditio litteraria ad polum Arcticum
nach Mohilew gebracht haben, welches in Ruslandt lieget.” The entire copy has been digitised by staff at the
Vienna University Observatory. The note is found on p. 101 of the pdf document on the internet (cf.
http://www.univie.ac.at/hwastro/, accessed 3 March 2011). The same copy is also unique in its insertion of
several illustration at the end. These were not found in the Copenhagen edition, but were included at a later date.
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