They offer one Handwritten, signed field post letter ofGerman-AmericanTheologian Caspar René Gregory (1846-1917).

Caspar René Gregory resigned in 1914 at the age of 67 (!) as the oldest German war volunteer joined the German army and became a lieutenant in 1916. In April 1917 he died in a field hospital near Neufchâtel-sur-Aisne, France.

Written on 29. December 1916 (in France) as a 70-year-old lieutenant in the 47. Landwehr Division, West; with stamp "Stab 31. {???}.-Brigade."

From late 1916 to early 1917, the 47th Landwehr Division (3. Royal Saxon) in Battles on the Aisne involved. (Source: wikipedia.)

Addressed to Miss. Charlotte Henkel in Pforte (school gate / school gate); certainly one daughter the school porter teacher and geologist Ludwig Henkel (1859-1936). A strong indication of this is that field post offered at the same time by other authors is addressed to Charlotte Henkel at the "Lindenhaus" in Schulpforte, which is the teacher's house.

Scope: 4 p. (11.3 x 9 cm); written in small, delicate script.

Attached is the original envelope.

Excerpts:"Dear Lotte! I've been horrible not saying a word of thanks for your birthday wishes for so long. But it was only because there was no time to write a proper letter. [...] Now I intend to write very small letters right away. Then I'll attach casual messages if I can. [...] With that I remain, even beyond the possible postscript, with cordial greetings, your faithful friend Caspar René Gregory."

The "postscript" then includes the remaining three pages of the small letter: "If I only knew Moppel personally, it would be possible for me to meet you here one day. Who knows? Maybe she pulled a cannon that I saw passing."

Then about his horse "Nina" and cars, which he consistently calls "Auts": "So riding on their backs is always an exciting experience if I'm riding on a road that the auts can use. [...] A few days ago, as I was riding on a dirt track next to the road, so that the driver had not the slightest reason to use the horn, the driver suddenly made a most unusually horrid noise. Nina turned around and broke away in a wild gallop. By the way, it's not out of the question that you'll get a picture of Nina. Our general asked me to be photographed on horseback. The wishes of division officers are orders, and if the picture turns out well, if my sieve-like memory doesn't intervene, or gets stuck or sieves, a piece shall reach you. You can show Lotte the horse and ask Lotte to tell Moppel in her next radio to say hello to Nina if she sees her on any street out here. [...] Such a horse is not a very simple creature. It has all sorts of quirks, just like humans. Do you know that horses are extremely similar to humans? Happy New Year!"

Condition: Paper slightly browned, cover slightly thicker. BiPlease also note the pictures!

Internal note: MM5

About Caspar René Gregory (source: wikipedia):

Caspar Rene Gregory (* 6. November 1846 at Philadelphia; † 9 April 1917 in a field hospital near Neufchâtel-sur-Aisne, France) was a German-American theologian.

Life: Gregory had French ancestry. As a French officer, his great-grandfather René Gregory enthusiastically joined Lafayette's auxiliary army for the American War of Independence in 1777 and remained in America through marriage. His father Henry Duval Gregory, a Reformed Presbyterian, had a formative effect on him through his puritanical austerity.

After attending his father's school, Gregory studied theology at the two Presbyterian seminaries: 1865-1867 in Philadelphia and 1867-1873 in PRINCETON (New Jersey). In 1873 he decided to continue his studies in Leipzig under Konstantin von Tischendorf. He began his work on New Testament textual research at the suggestion of his teacher Ezra Abbot. His plan to study under Tischendorf was interrupted in 1874 by his death. However, he continued Tischendorf's work.

Gregory habilitated in 1884 and became an associate professor in 1889 and an honorary professor in 1891 in Leipzig. He received his philosophical doctorate in 1876 with the dissertation Grégoire, the priest and the revolutionist. The first reviewer was the historian Georg Voigt. The doctoral file in the University Archives in Leipzig says the same thing. Gregory apparently held several PhDs. In his biography, Karl Josef Friedrich (p. 130) even refers to Gregory as having five doctorates. At least one testimony is that he received a theological doctorate in Leipzig in 1889, and in 1893 he became an honorary doctorate from the University of Leipzig. Together with the politician Friedrich Naumann and the lawyer Rudolph Sohm, he was involved in founding the National Social Association. He was close friends with the Leipzig theologian Adolf von Harnack.

As the oldest German volunteer, the German-American Gregory, a Saxon citizen since 1881, joined the German army in August 1914 at the age of 67. After two years he became a lieutenant. He died in a military hospital on the western front in 1917 and was buried in the German war cemetery in Asfeld.

Gregory was a member of the Arion Society and the Apollo Masonic Lodge in Leipzig. In 1891 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Significance: Gregory has made significant and lasting contributions to the study of the New Testament manuscripts and to the textual criticism of the New Testament. In 1908 his work The Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament was published. This work unified the designations of the New Testament manuscripts and thus made research on the text much easier. His numbering of the text witnesses was later updated and extended by Kurt Aland, and Gregory-Aland numbering is still the general standard today.

One can also say that the study of New Testament manuscripts was also co-founded by Tischendorf. He was described as an outspoken "philanthropist".

Dedications: In addition to his work, a memorial stone with a relief portrait donated by Willmar Schwabe in front of the New Nikolai School on Naunhofer Strasse in Leipzig's Stötteritz district is reminiscent of him. The inscription on the relief reads:

prof dr Gregory

The friend of the people

The tireless

researchers & teachers

The brave fighter

For freedom and justice

For grateful remembrance

A small approx. The playground located 600 m from the monument is called Gregoryplatz.

factories

Prolegomena to Tischendorf's Novum Testamentum Graece (edition VIII. critica major), 2 volumes, 1884–1894 (Ger. Rev.: Textual Criticism of the NT, 3 vols., 1900-1909)

Canon and Text of the New Testament. Edinburgh 1907

The Freer Logion. Leipzig 1908.

Textual Criticism of the New Testament. Leipzig 1900.

Textual Criticism of the New Testament. Volume 2, Leipzig 1902 (archive.org).

The Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament. Leipzig 1908 (openlibrary.org).

Introduction to the New Testament. 1909.

Proposals for a Critical Edition of the Greek New Testament. 1911

The Koridethi Gospels. 1913

Hermann Guthe (ed.): On foot in Bible lands. 1919.