Zion’s Library – a treasure trove

Zion’s unique historic Library has several roots:

After Pastor Julius Hofmann’s death in 1928, his massive personal study library was divided. A smaller, but most valuable portion became part of Johns-Hopkins-University’s special collections:

“Garrett Library: The nucleus of the Garrett Library Bible collection was assembled by Julius Hofmann, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Baltimore. When Hofmann died in 1928, Professor William Kurrelmeyer, Hofmann's literary executor, persuaded Henry Hilken, the German consul in Baltimore, to purchase and donate the Hofmann collection to the Johns Hopkins University. This collection includes the four volume Bible printed by Koberger in Nuremberg in 1497, and the "September Bible", the first edition of Martin Luther's translation of the New Testament into German (1522). The reissue of Luther's work four months later, popularly known as the "December Bible", was a gift from the family of Professor Kurrelmeyer. The Polyglot Psalter (1516), the first polyglot edition of any part of the Bible, was the gift of the Evergreen House Foundation. A very rare item in the collection is John Eliot's Indian Bible (Cambridge, MA, 1662-1663), the first edition of the first complete Bible printed in the New World. Eliot translated the Bible into the Massachusetts Indian language for the use of missionaries. The collection also includes many early editions of the Bible in other traditional languages such as English, Latin, and French, but also contains specimens, particularly of the New Testament, in such languages as Manx, Rarotongan, Norwegian, and Lithuanian.

Besides Bibles proper, the collection contains many early works on theology and canon law such as examples by Duns Scotus, Alexander de Hales, Gratian, Thomas Aquinas, and Eusebius of Caesarea. The Garrett Library has the 1553 and 1555 editions of the works of Martin Luther, and several books written or edited by his colleague Philipp Melanchthon. The collections also include an early edition of John Donne's Essays in Divinity.

The catalogued religious materials in the Garrett Library are represented on JANUS, the online computer to the Hopkins collections.                 (http://www.loc.gov/rr/main/religion/jhul.html)”

1)     The larger part of the library was kept at Zion as the JULIUS HOFMANN GEDENKBIBLIOTHEK or MEMORIAL LIBRARY in a room rearranged and decorated for this purpose. It contains some 8000 volumes dating from 1501 to c. 1920. The library mirrors the fascinating comprehensiveness of Pastor Hofmann’s interests and studies, the main fields as indicated in the three stained glass windows being:
- “Dichtung”: German literature and arts, with an emphasis on the classics (Goethe, Schiller), English literature
- “Gottesgelahrtheit”:Theology and Philosophy
- “Geschichte”: German, American, and World History, also German-American studies, including brochures and pamphlets

Hofmann’s own books are distinguishable for the two artistic ex libris plates he used (see sample, also shown on the mantelpiece):

2)     In the first decades up to c. 1960, the Hofmann Library was not so much a historical collection, but a “working library” for Zion’s Pastors. Books were added by purchase or by donation. Most, but not all of these books received a stamp ”Julius Hofmann Gedenkbibliothek – Memorial Library” and a number. The large majority are books on Theology and current affairs.

3)     Sometime, probably in the early 1950’s, books from the Zion’s Sunday School library and a collection used in its German Language School by Miss Elsa Conradi were integrated into the library. Naturally these books are either children’s books or of educational nature.

4)     To these were added gifts by parishioners and friends of Zion: books they did not need anymore, but wanted to see preserved, e.g. German books that nobody in their families could read anymore.

5)     By the same way, an extensive collection of mostly German Family Bibles, Prayer books, and Hymnals was established. Some of these contain genealogical material that has yet to be analyzed and cataloged.

Most of this diverse, accumulated collection was cataloged on index cards by Pastor Penner’s sister in the 1970’s, using short titles and a numerus currens system.