# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Januar 1861_S28
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

The Erlangen Edition of Luther's Works. 28

Luther's works finds, we see no proof of the contrary either. But
the fact remains regrettable all the same. To trace its cause in
detail, however, lies outside our interest. It is indeed true that
the edition, at the beginning, especially as regards its outward
appearance, left something to be desired, which, however, was
largely due to the intention of producing it as cheaply as possible
and thereby securing it a wider circulation. But it is just as true
that the publishers have spared no expense and the editors have
neglected nothing in order to remove the defects in the later
divisions and to secure for the edition those essential advantages
which it has over all others, and which were already set forth in
detail earlier in our journal (vol. XIX, N.F.).

The Erlangen edition is, without question, the most complete; it
contains much that is lacking in all the collected editions; it
gives every writing of Luther in the language in which it was
written, which, as is well known, is not the case in the Walch
edition — which is really the only one still in competition with the
Erlangen — the editors were, and this is the main point, at pains
"to restore the original pure text according to the original
editions printed at Wittenberg under Luther's own eyes, with careful
retention of all peculiarities of language and with the sole
accommodation of the orthography and punctuation to the present
day;" and the Erlangen edition is the only one which can be called a
critical one.

It has also been very much to its advantage that early on the
thorough and diligent Dr. Irmischer alone conducted the editing,
from whose hands it passed into the equally skilled and conscientious
hands of Dr. Schmidt. It is, to be sure, not yet a critical edition
in the sense that the Lachmann edition of Lessing's works is one,
but whoever knows how to appreciate the labor required for that will
not entertain such expectations even of a handy edition that is
inexpensive and produced by the publisher without subsidy. Suffice
it that it fully meets the theological need.

The edition now already contains all of Luther's German writings in
65 volumes, with a carefully compiled and valuable alphabetical
subject index in 2 volumes.

The edition of the Latin writings — and such an edition has, as is
well known, been undertaken for the first time again in 236 years —
already comprises 25 volumes of exegetical content, and among these
are some which are so far contained in no collected edition in the
original language. (The enarrationes in psalmos XXV priores.) Still
lacking, however, from the exegetical works are the Scholia in
Esaiam prophetam, chapters 41–66; the enarratio uberior on chapters 9
and 53 of Isaiah; the enarrationes in prophetas minores; the
enarrationes epistolarum et evangeliorum, which they call the
Postils, and the annotationes in aliquot capita Matthaei; and all of
Luther's writings on the history of the Reformation are lacking, of
whose importance we need say nothing. — All these writings, however,
could be contained in about 14 volumes.