They offer a Handwritten, signed field post letter ofGerman-AmericanTheologian Caspar René Gregory (1846-1917).
Caspar René Gregory joined in 1914 At the age of 67 (!), he was 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 the 29th 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 (3rd Royal Saxon) in Battles on the Aisne involved. (Source: wikipedia.)
Addressed to Miss Charlotte Henkel in gate (school gate / school gate); certainly one Daughter the school gate teacher and geologist Ludwig Henkel (1859-1936). A strong indication of this is that field mail offered at the same time by other authors to Charlotte Henkel is addressed to the "Lindenhaus" in Schulpforte, which is the teacher's house.
Scope: 4 p. (11.3 x 9 cm); written in small, delicate font.
Attached is the original envelope.
Excerpts:"Dear Lotte! I've been terrible not to say a word of thanks to you for so long for your birthday wishes. But it was only because there was no time to write a proper letter. [...] Now I plan to write very small letters straight away. Then I'll attach casual messages when I can. [...] With that, I remain, even beyond any postscript, with warm greetings, your loyal friend Caspar René Gregory."
The "postscript" then comprises the remaining three pages of the small letter: "If I only knew Moppel personally, it would be possible that I would meet here one day. Who knows? Maybe she pulled out a cannon that I saw go by."
Then about his horse "Nina" and cars, which he consistently calls "Auts": “So riding on their backs is always an exciting experience if I ride on a road that the Auts can use. [...] A few days ago, as I was riding on a dirt road next to the road, so that the driver had no reason whatsoever to use the horn, the driver suddenly made a very unusually horrible noise. Nina turned around and set off at a wild gallop. By the way, it is not impossible that you will get a picture of Nina. Our division officer asked that I be photographed on horseback. The wishes of division officers are orders, and if the picture turns out well, unless my sieve-like memory intervenes, or gets stuck or sifts, then a piece should come to you. You can show it to Lotte the horse and ask Lotte to tell Moppel on her next wireless to say hi 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 people. Do you know that horses are extremely similar to people? 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 René Gregory (*6. November 1846 in Philadelphia; † 9. April 1917 in a field hospital near Neufchâtel-sur-Aisne, France) was a German-American theologian.
Life: Gregory had French ancestors. His great-grandfather René Gregory, as a French officer, 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 influence on him with his Puritan strictness.
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 by his death in 1874. However, he continued Tischendorf's work.
Gregory completed his habilitation in 1884 and became an associate professor in 1889 and a full honorary professor in Leipzig in 1891. He received his doctorate in philosophy in 1876 with his dissertation Grégoire, the priest and the revolutionist. The first assessor was the historian Georg Voigt. The doctoral file in the Leipzig University Archives also says the same thing. Gregory apparently held several doctorates. In his biography, Karl Josef Friedrich (p. 130) even addresses Gregory as a five-time doctor. At least there is evidence that he obtained a theological doctorate in Leipzig in 1889, and in 1893 he received 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 had a close friendship with the Leipzig theologian Adolf von Harnack.
As the oldest German war 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 the hospital on the Western Front in 1917 and was buried at the German war cemetery in Asfeld.
Gregory was a member of the Arion choir and the Apollo Freemason 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 research 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 standardized the names of the New Testament manuscripts and thus made research on the text much easier. His numbering of the textual witnesses was later updated and expanded by Kurt Aland and today the numbering according to Gregory-Aland is still the general standard.
One can also say that New Testament manuscript studies were co-founded by von Tischendorf and him. He was described as an outspoken “philanthropist”.
Dedications: In addition to his work, he is commemorated by a memorial stone donated by Willmar Schwabe with a relief portrait in front of the Neue Nikolaischule on Naunhofer Straße in the Stötteritz district of Leipzig. The inscription on the relief reads:
Prof. Dr. Gregory
To the people's friend
The tireless one
Researchers and teachers
To the brave fighter
For freedom and justice
In grateful memory
A small approx. The playground located 600 m away from the monument is called Gregoryplatz.
factories
Prolegomena to Tischendorf's Novum Testamentum Graece (editio VIII. critica major), 2 volumes, 1884–1894 (German. New edition: Textual Criticism of the NT, 3 volumes, 1900–1909)
Canon and Text of the New Testament. Edinburgh 1907
The Freer Logion. Leipzig 1908.
The textual criticism of the New Testament. Leipzig 1900.
The 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.