.jpg "St. Louis Edition of Luther's works (Mezger, Denkstein)")
With the improved reprinting of the old Walch edition, the edition principles of the 16th-18th centuries were reverted to, earlier than the Erlangen and Weimar editions, in order to present a complete edition of Luther's works that could be understood by all in terms of language and could also be read by non-theologians. In this intention, the St. Louis Edition could certainly claim an independent place next to the Weimar edition published since 1883, which with its sections “Writings” (61 volumes), “Table Talks” (6 volumes), “German Bible” (12 volumes) and “Correspondence” (17 volumes) forms the provisional conclusion of centuries of efforts to collect Luther's literary works and written legacy.
"…a complete edition of Luther's works that could be understood by all in terms of language and could also be read by non-theologians.… [It can] claim an independent place next to the Weimar edition published since 1883"
"The St. Louis Walch edition incorporated numerous texts discovered since the first Walch edition as well as updated or new introductions. Aiming to produce an edition accessible to German-speaking Lutherans in America, the organizers preferred to reproduce the Walch edition rather than texts from one of the contemporary critical editions, Erlangen or Weimer (see the following), both of which included untranslated Latin texts. The St. Louis editors also modernized language and spelling. The St. Louis Walch edition was reprinted in Germany in 1986-1987, reflecting a continued interest in translations of Luther’s Latin works."
602 History of Luther Editions 16th-19th C. XI. The Second Walch Edition (St. Louis Edition) (1880-1910)
XI. The Second Walch Edition (St. Louis Edition) (1880-1910)
The edition of Luther's German writings translated into German by Johann Georg Walch in the 18th century saw an improved and enlarged reprint 126 years after its completion, which appeared in St. Louis between 1880 and 1910, "the largest work in the German language printed in the United States''1 . However, it was not the first printing of Luther's German writings in the New World. Already in May 1859, an "American Luther Association for the Publication of Luther's Writings for the People" had been constituted, whose goal was to publish Luther's writings in their entirety, as far as they were not only intended for theologians and scholars, and to disseminate them again among the Lutheran Christian people 2. In the same year, the first volume of Luther's People's Library appeared. For the use and benefit of the Lutheran Christian people selected complete writings of Dr. Martin Luther, printed unchanged with the necessary explanatory remarks3. A total of 30 volumes were published between 1859 and 1876 — starting with volume 9/10 (1864) each as a double volume — in the octavo format of the Erlangen edition, but in larger print and with better paper. However, the initial lively interest quickly waned 4, so that in 1868 the Missouri Synod had to take over the publishing, printing and distribution of Luther's People's Library. The content of the volumes, which present only German writings, is rather disorganized; exegetical, catechetical and homiletical writings dominate. The texts, preceded by brief introductions, have been reproduced unabridged and without commentary — the promised explanatory remarks are almost entirely absent — but in modern orthography. [p. 603] This selection edition perhaps prepared the ground for the complete edition, but has had no discernible effect on its design.
The new edition of Walch's edition is, along with the Erlangen and Weimar editions, the third complete edition of Luther's works to appear in the nineteenth century; however, in that Walch's principle of reproducing Latin texts only in translation is once again adopted, it represents a step backward from the standard established with the Erlangen edition and therefore cannot be compared with the latter in terms of importance; in any case, its intention was by no means of a scholarly nature. [As Walther acknowledged — see last paragraph below] The suggestion to reprint Walch's edition came in September 1879 from the “Pastoral Conference of the Western District of the Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other states” and was justified by the fact that the copies of the old edition are becoming increasingly rare and that the Erlangen edition, which lacks the valuable longer prefaces5 and the translations of the Latin writings, does not replace Walch's 6. In an advance notice, a revised and supplementary edition was promised. The revision should mainly extend to a comparison of Walch's text with other Luther editions, especially to a comparison of the translations contained in Walch with the original Latin text. Only incomprehensible expressions of the translators and incorrect translations will be corrected. The supplement would concern the prefaces and introductions, which are to be completed from the later and newest historical research..... The writings missing in Walch, esp. letters of Luther (would) be added in a last volume or supplementary volume7. After approval of the project by the Ministry of the Missouri Synod and the Board of Directors of the Synod Printing House (Concordia Publishing House), Georg Stöckhardt, then a lecturer at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis8, was commissioned with the editing; he was joined as an assistant by the Rev. Emmerich W. Kähler9. [p. 604] In 1886 Albert Friedrich Hoppe, professor at Concordia Seminary10, took over the editorial duties.
The edition, the first volume of which appeared in 1880 and which is designated on the title pages as the Neue revidierte Stereotypausgabe der Walchschen Edition (New revised stereotype edition of Walch's edition), follows the original11 exactly in structure and content. It also corresponds to it in appearance, the quarto format and the two-column printing. Since the volumes turned out somewhat larger, they are usually less extensive than those of Walch's edition; at the head of each page is therefore noted at which point in the old Walch the text is found. Due to the inclusion of many writings that have become known in the meantime and due to the removal of those that were previously printed twice, there is occasionally a shift from volume to volume compared to the original. Thus, the lectures on the minor prophets12, printed for the first time from manuscripts in the Erlangen edition, were reproduced in volume 6 and, since there was not enough space, continued in volume 14; here, Luther's Vulgate revision, which does not belong in our complete German edition13, was omitted, and the almost 50 prefaces to the earlier editions printed by Walch in the same volume have been deleted except for seven. In addition to the Erlangen edition and the first volumes of the Weimar edition, Georg Buchwald's various publications of previously unprinted transcripts of Luther's sermons served as models for the texts not included in Walch's old edition and now included.
Volumes 11-13 with the postils have been completely revised. In volumes 11 and 12, the winter postilla is now reproduced according to the old prints of the 16th century, the summer and festival postilla according to the second [p. 605] edition of the Erlangen edition. Volume 13 with the house postille14 was divided into two half volumes, whose first contains the version of Dietrich, while the second offers Rörer's review; thus one followed likewise the second edition of the Erlanger edition. In volumes 15-20 with texts on the history of the Reformation, various duplicates have been excluded, and numerous pieces have been re-dated or reprinted according to better models. Like volume 13, volume 21 with the letters is divided into two part volumes to accommodate the new material published since the 18th century15. Volume 22, which contains the Table Talks, was also thoroughly edited and enriched by the translation of the Table Talks collections of Lauterbach and Cordatus16. Of Walch's indexes, only the main subject index and the index of the Bible verses mentioned and explained in the volumes were taken over for volume 23, the last of the new edition, while the remaining contents of volumes 23 and 24 of the first edition were omitted in the reprint.
All texts have been modernized linguistically and orthographically. The numerous and often extensive translations of the first edition, regardless of whether they already existed and were only reviewed and corrected by Walch or whether they were only prepared for his edition, have been partially compared again with the Latin original and the incorrect and inaccurate versions … corrected, incomprehensible expressions replaced by clear ones, complex paraphrases shortened17; for the most part, however, the Latin texts were translated completely anew, including such extensive ones as Decem praecepta, Deuteronomium cum annotationibus, Operationes in Psalmos, Interpretation of the Gradual Psalms, both commentaries on the Epistle to the Galatians, Annotationes in aliquot capita Matthaei and De servo arbitrio18.
Walch's extensive introductions were retained, in part abridged, in other places again supplemented and expanded, only in the volumes 1, 2, 10, 18-20 published between 1880 and 1890; the volumes 11-13 with the Postillen and volume 22 with the Table Talks, also published in this period, received new prefaces. After Hoppe took over the editorial duties in 1886, he provided the volumes published since then only with short prefaces [p. 606] in which he gave information about the scope of his work19, and instead added an introductory, often detailed note to each piece in the text, in which information about the history of origin, earlier individual editions and places of discovery in the previous complete editions was given. While factual notes are generally missing in this edition as well, there are occasional text-critical notes with variants and conjectures from the Erlanger and Weimar editions.
As with Walch's first edition, the volumes of the new edition did not appear in their numerical order. In 1880/81 the first two were published, followed in 1882-1884 by volumes 11-13 b. In 1885 volume 10 followed, in 1887 volume 22, in 1888-1890 volumes 18-20. Volumes 7-9 followed in 1891-1893, between 1894 and 1897 volumes 3-6 appeared, between 1898 and 1901 volumes 14-1720. The conclusion was formed by volume 21a and b 1903/04 and the register volume 23 191021. Various volumes still experienced a second, unchanged edition22: volume 13b 1892, volume 9 and 13a 1904, volume 16 and 19 1907.
With the improved reprinting of the old Walch edition, the edition principles of the 16th-18th centuries were reverted to, earlier than the Erlangen and Weimar editions, in order to present a complete edition of Luther's works that could be understood by all in terms of language and could also be read by non-theologians. In this intention, the St. Louis Edition could certainly claim an independent place next to the Weimar edition published since 188323, which with its sections “Writings” (61 volumes), “Table Talks” (6 volumes), “German Bible” (12 volumes) and “Correspondence” (17 volumes) forms the provisional conclusion of centuries of efforts to collect Luther's literary works and written legacy.
1) ^ Thus the judgment of L. E. Fuerbringer, Persons and Events (St. Louis 1947), p. 207.
2) ^ Der Lutheraner, ed. by the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other States, vol. 15 no. 21 (May 31, 1850), p. 164f. I owe this, as well as much of the following information, to the kind assistance of the Concordia Historical Institute in St. Louis and the Executive Director of the Foundation for Reformation Research, Mr. R. E. Diener.
3) ^ Thus the indication of the title page of the volumes.
4) ^ Cf. the judgment of the Synod that there is no doubt that only the pastors are to blame, in that they have failed to give the glorious enterprise the eloquent and fervent commendation of which it is well worthy (11th Synodal Report of the General German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri ... of 1863 [St. Louis 1864], p. 99).
5) ^ Cf. above p. 589 f.
6) ^ Vol. 1, Foreword p. IV. Cf. also the criticism of the Weimar edition in vol. 18, preface p. VI: “Which reader of Luther's writings, who really uses Luther's works, will be able to make friends with the method of the Weimar edition, in which one finds doctrinal writings, controversial writings, sermons, catechetical, exegetical treatises colorfully thrown together?” [G. Stockhardt.]
7) ^ Der Lutheraner Vol. 35 No. 22 (Nov. 15, 1879), p. 171 (G. Stöckhardt).
8) ^ Stöckhardt (1842-1913) from Chemnitz [Germany], originally a Lutheran pastor, had co-founded the Saxon Free Church in 1876 and was pastor at Holy Cross Church in St. Louis, Mo. since 1878. Since 1879 he worked as a lecturer, since 1887 as a professor at the theological training school of the Missouri Synod in St. Louis. On him see Lutheran Cyclopedia, p. 1011.
9) ^ Kähler (1849-1914) came from Holstein, emigrated to America in 1872 and was ordained at Lancaster/Ohio in 1873. In 1876 he was for a time secretary to C. F. W. Walther, the founder of the Missouri Synod; In 1892 he resigned his ministry because of a serious scandal and then lived in Milwaukee.
10) ^ Hoppe (1828-1911) came from Rostock, studied there and in Erlangen, emigrated to America in 1855, where he received a pastorate in New Orleans in 1856. In 1881 he established a progymnasium (synodal institution) there, until in 1886, after he had prepared vol. 22 with the Table Talks [Tischreden] for reprinting, he was given the editorship of the St. Louis Edition. On him, cf. Der Lutheraner vol. 67 no. 12 (June 13, 1911), pp. 190f. and no. 13 (June 27, 1911), pp. 205-207; Fuerbringer loc. cit., pp. 205 ff. For the date of the takeover of the editorial business, see also Stöckhardt's preface to vol. 22; cf. also vol. 18, Preface p. V.
11) ^ For a detailed overview of the contents, see Aland, pp. 493-506.
13) ^ Vol. 6, Preface p. V.
14) ^ For Walch's procedure in printing the House Postille, see above p. 584.
15) ^ On the letters in Walch's second edition, see WA Briefe vol. 14, pp. 569f. and 428-442.
16) ^ On the disposition of vol. 22, cf. the preface, pp. 61f. [?]
17) ^ Vol. 1, Preface p. V.
18) ^ The good translations were emphasized by G. Kawerau in ThStKr vol. 81 (1908), p. 356, who generally judged the new edition positively. [Kawerau was a major contributor and editor of the Weimar Edition]
19) ^ Volumes 18-20 also retained Walch's introductions
20) ^ In the preface of vol. 17, p. VII, Hoppe wrote in 1901: “With this volume, the revision of the old edition of the complete writings of D. Martin Luther, edited by Walch, is now completed, except for the 21st volume, which contains Luther's letters, to which the editor will now first turn before he starts to produce the registers. Accordingly, in vol. 21b, preface p. V, it says: “With this volume, ... the re-edition of Luther's complete writings according to Dr. Joh. G. Walch is now complete.”
21) ^ Most volumes do not bear a year of publication on the title page, which can only be inferred from the dated prefaces. The dates given in Aland, p. 494 are occasionally those of the second edition.
22) ^ Only the title page of vol. 13b says: 2nd edition.
23) ^ On the genesis of the Weimarana, cf. O. Albrecht, Zur Vorgeschichte der Weimarer Lutherausgabe, in: Lutherstudien zur 4, Jahrhundertfeier der Reformation, published by the staff of the Weimar Luther Edition (Weimar 1917), pp. 29-65.
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