Browse Documents By...
Original Language...
Documents For...
Browse Commentaries By...
Browse Referred Persons By...
Luther's 'Warning to the Printers', Wittenberg (1545)
Source: Württembergische Landesbibliothek Signatur: Bb deutsch 154503 (from the reprint edition of 1545)
Citation:
Luther's 'Warning to the Printers', Wittenberg (1545), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf
2 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
BIBLE
That is: The
whole Holy Scripture /
in German / Revised
afresh.
DR MART[IN] LUTH[ER]
Endowed with
a privilege by
the Elector of Saxony
Printed in Wit=
temberg / by Hans Lufft
M.D.XLV
Chapter 1 Page 2
Warning. Dr Martin
Luther
Saint Paul says: Avarice
is the root of all evil. In these our depraved
and evil times we experience the truth of this saying so markedly / that
one would be hard put to find anything like it in all History books.
You just have to look at the abominable / and terrible / goings-on
and evil / which avarice causes through nasty profiteering,
/ whereby even well-bred / sensible / and notable people
are so seized by these demons of avarice and profiteering / that they knowingly
and deliberately / engage in what they know to be profiteering / and are thus willingly
and consciously worshipping the idol of Mammon / with great and abominable contempt
for Divine Grace and Wrath, / which means that they are rushing into
the fires of hell and eternal damnation with open eyes and ears.
This very same accursed avarice, / amongst all the other evils / which it gets up to, / has
also set about our work, / so as to carry out its evil therein and cause harm.
For after here, in Wittemberg, / God the Merciful gave us his
immense grace / so that we could clearly and faithfully render his holy Word and the holy
Bible into the German Language, / in which task (as
any reasonable person can judge for himself) we have done excellent
and great work (all thanks to the grace of God),
Avarice now strikes / and plays this knavish trick on our printers
whereby others are instantly reprinting [our translation] / and are thus depriving us of our work
and expenses to their profit, / which is a downright public robbery /
and will surely be punished by God / and which is unworthy of any honest
Christian. It is not for my own sake, though, that I am concerned / since it was
freely that I received / and freely that I gave it, / and I ask for nothing in return:
/ Christ my Lord has repaid me for it many hundred thousand times over.
But this I must lament about avarice, / that these greedy and rapacious
pirate printers are handling our work carelessly. For, seeking only
their own profit, / they don't care much about the accuracy of what they are
reprinting, / and it has often happened to me / when reading their reprinted text / that
I found it so full of errors / that in many places I couldn't recognize my own work /
and had to correct it from scratch. / They just print it off quickly, as there's money to be made.
Whereas (if they were true printers) they surely ought to know from experience
that one can't be careful enough when it comes to such work / as printing.
/ Anyone who has ever tried such work / will bear witness to what I am saying /
about the amount of care that it demands.
Therefore, / if someone wishes to acquire our newly revised version of the Bible for himself / or
for a library, / I hereby honestly warn him /
that he should pay attention / to what and where he is buying / and that he should try to buy this version
only / which was published here this year (1541). / For I'm not counting on
living so long / that I would be able to go through the Bible a second time. And even if I
were to live as long as this would take / I am fast becoming too weak for such work.
And I wish that everyone should take into consideration / that it will scarcely be easy
to find someone else for whom the Bible is a matter of such earnest / as to us here in Wittenberg, / to whom
was first given the grace / of bringing / God's word to light again, untainted /
and well purified. We also hope / that future generations will
apply to their reprints / that very same care / so that our work is
preserved pure and complete.
It is thus that we too, / without any avarice / profit or gain (on this we may pride ourselves
before Christ), have honestly and generously shown and communicated [our work] to all Christians.
And what we have suffered for its sake, / laboured / and spent on it- / that is for no-one
to know / except for Him who is the Giver of all / and who achieved this through us unworthy,
/ wretched, / poor instruments. The honour is for Him
alone, / and praise and thanks in eternity. / AMEN
Translation by: Luis Sundkvist
Source: Württembergische Landesbibliothek Signatur: Bb deutsch 154503 (from the reprint edition of 1545)
Citation:
Luther's 'Warning to the Printers', Wittenberg (1545), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf
2 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
That is: The
whole Holy Scripture /
in German / Revised
afresh.
DR MART[IN] LUTH[ER]
Endowed with
a privilege by
the Elector of Saxony
Printed in Wit=
temberg / by Hans Lufft
M.D.XLV
Chapter 1 Page 2
Warning. Dr Martin
Luther
Saint Paul says: Avarice
is the root of all evil. In these our depraved
and evil times we experience the truth of this saying so markedly / that
one would be hard put to find anything like it in all History books.
You just have to look at the abominable / and terrible / goings-on
and evil / which avarice causes through nasty profiteering,
/ whereby even well-bred / sensible / and notable people
are so seized by these demons of avarice and profiteering / that they knowingly
and deliberately / engage in what they know to be profiteering / and are thus willingly
and consciously worshipping the idol of Mammon / with great and abominable contempt
for Divine Grace and Wrath, / which means that they are rushing into
the fires of hell and eternal damnation with open eyes and ears.
This very same accursed avarice, / amongst all the other evils / which it gets up to, / has
also set about our work, / so as to carry out its evil therein and cause harm.
For after here, in Wittemberg, / God the Merciful gave us his
immense grace / so that we could clearly and faithfully render his holy Word and the holy
Bible into the German Language, / in which task (as
any reasonable person can judge for himself) we have done excellent
and great work (all thanks to the grace of God),
Avarice now strikes / and plays this knavish trick on our printers
whereby others are instantly reprinting [our translation] / and are thus depriving us of our work
and expenses to their profit, / which is a downright public robbery /
and will surely be punished by God / and which is unworthy of any honest
Christian. It is not for my own sake, though, that I am concerned / since it was
freely that I received / and freely that I gave it, / and I ask for nothing in return:
/ Christ my Lord has repaid me for it many hundred thousand times over.
But this I must lament about avarice, / that these greedy and rapacious
pirate printers are handling our work carelessly. For, seeking only
their own profit, / they don't care much about the accuracy of what they are
reprinting, / and it has often happened to me / when reading their reprinted text / that
I found it so full of errors / that in many places I couldn't recognize my own work /
and had to correct it from scratch. / They just print it off quickly, as there's money to be made.
Whereas (if they were true printers) they surely ought to know from experience
that one can't be careful enough when it comes to such work / as printing.
/ Anyone who has ever tried such work / will bear witness to what I am saying /
about the amount of care that it demands.
Therefore, / if someone wishes to acquire our newly revised version of the Bible for himself / or
for a library, / I hereby honestly warn him /
that he should pay attention / to what and where he is buying / and that he should try to buy this version
only / which was published here this year (1541). / For I'm not counting on
living so long / that I would be able to go through the Bible a second time. And even if I
were to live as long as this would take / I am fast becoming too weak for such work.
And I wish that everyone should take into consideration / that it will scarcely be easy
to find someone else for whom the Bible is a matter of such earnest / as to us here in Wittenberg, / to whom
was first given the grace / of bringing / God's word to light again, untainted /
and well purified. We also hope / that future generations will
apply to their reprints / that very same care / so that our work is
preserved pure and complete.
It is thus that we too, / without any avarice / profit or gain (on this we may pride ourselves
before Christ), have honestly and generously shown and communicated [our work] to all Christians.
And what we have suffered for its sake, / laboured / and spent on it- / that is for no-one
to know / except for Him who is the Giver of all / and who achieved this through us unworthy,
/ wretched, / poor instruments. The honour is for Him
alone, / and praise and thanks in eternity. / AMEN
Translation by: Luis Sundkvist