Jacob Böhme: Die Urschriften

This edition gives Böhme research what it had been missing up to now: For the first time all of the original copies of Böhme‹s (1575–1624) texts are presented here reproduced in facsimile, whereas all previous editions had adapted Böhme‹s way of speaking and writing to the customary usage of their time. The edition contains all the original documents known to us today: ›die Morgenröte‹; the first letter to Kaym, a fragment of the ›ersten Schutzschrift gegen Tilke‹; the works ›Von der wahren Gelassenheit‹; ›Von der Gnadenwahl‹; ›De Penitentia‹; ›Von Christi Testamenten‹ in two versions, the ›Epistola an eine hungrige und durstige Seele‹; the ›Schutzrede gegen Richter‹; the ›Gebetbüchlein‹ and ›vierzig Sendbriefe‹. The texts are reproduced skillfully and accurately and in order of the time of their writing. These are followed by a description of the manuscripts and a text-critical apparatus. The afterword provides information on the history of the Böhme manuscripts.