A Precious Donation to the Reformation Rare Book Room

In 2017, our seminary enclosed a corner of its library to make a suitable place to display some 300 rare books that had been in storage for decades. These books had been donated by Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, as duplicates in its own collection. The new Reformation Rare Book Room was dedicated as part of the festivities surrounding the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation. The books include a Jena edition of Luther’s works, published in the 1550s. It’s exciting to have these precious books available for the public to see.

In that same 500^th anniversary year, a man in Calgary delighted in showing his house guests a small bound volume containing six original printings of writings by Martin Luther. His father had bought the collection from an antiquarian bookseller some decades before and they had been passed down to him. Having realised the significance of the collection, after a few years he decided it should be seen by more than just his house guests. Earlier this year, while searching online for a Lutheran organisation, he found LCC Financial Ministries, to whom he sent this brief e-mail:

“Hello, I have a collection of Luther’s tracts that were published at Wittenberg in the early 1500’s. They have been bound (not professionally) into a small book and are in remarkably good condition. Anyways this note is to just see if there is any interest in your having these? I am not really looking to sell them, but a donation receipt would be nice. Thanks, Gavin.”

Allen Schellenberg, LCCFM Executive Director, was wary but intrigued. After a few conversations with Gavin, supplied photos of the collection were forwarded to a few trusted advisers, including Dr John Maxfield, Professor of History and Religious Studies at Concordia University of Edmonton, and Dr Thomas Winger, President of Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Catharines. The initial impression was positive—and evaluation by a professional appraiser confirmed that they were indeed genuine! LCC’s archive committee were excited and delighted by the news and agreed that the Reformation Rare Book Room in St. Catharines was the most suitable location to house the gift.

The six pamphlets date from 1520 to 1539 and are now the oldest documents in the rare book room. They will provide a remarkable opportunity for seminarians to experience the thrill that Luther’s printed writings produced among their first readers, and to understand how the Reformation spread. They are somewhat fragile and cannot bear repeated handling, but we intend to make a high-resolution scan available to anyone who would like to study the text. We look forward to unveiling them to the public at an event this autumn.

Our seminary extends heartfelt thanks to Mr Gavin Freeman on behalf of Lutherans everywhere for sharing his family treasure. We are also grateful to Allen Schellenberg and LCCFM for the work he did to facilitate this remarkable gift.

Contents:

Title	Modern edition & English translation
Treatise on Good Works (1520)	WA 6:202–76, AE 44:17-114
A Treatise on the New Testament, that is, the Holy Mass (1520)	WA 6:353–78; AE 35:77–111
A Letter of Dr Martin Luther to the Christians at Antwerp (1525)	WA 18:547-50
A Letter to those in Frankfurt on the Main (1533)	WA 30.3:558-71, CJ 16.4:333-51
appended: A Letter to the Council and Entire Congregation of the City of Mühlhausen (1524)	WA 15:230–40
A Letter of Dr Martin Luther against the Sabbatarians, to a Good Friend (1538)	WA 50:312-37
The 53rd Chapter of the Prophet Isaiah, on the Suffering and Glorification of Christ, Expounded by Dr Martin Luther (1539)	WA 25:325–39

WA=Weimar Ausgabe, the standard critical edition of the original texts
AE=American Edition, the standard English translation
CJ=Concordia Journal

English translations of the first two documents are available at https://archive.org/details/worksofmartinlut01luth

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