One of the current Special Collections cataloguing projects at New College Library is the W4/5 section which includes works on ecclesiastical history and theology. In this collection we were pleased to discover three volumes of the Halle reports, a Protestant missionary magazine from a Danish mission to India in the eighteenth century.

Image from : Dansk-hallensiske mission (Tranquebar, India) Der Königl. Dänischen Missionarien aus Ost-Indien eingesandter ausführlichen Berichten. Erster ( -neunter) Theil. 1718-1772 New College Library W.169-171. Image courtesy of Paul Nicholas

Advised by Dr. A. H. Francke (1663–1727), a professor of divinity in the University of Halle in Saxony, King Frederick IV of Denmark sent two missionaries from Halle to Tranquebar in India. In all over 60 missionaries were sent from Halle in the course of the eighteenth century, and they published their reports as Der Königl. Dänischen Missionarien aus Ost-Indien eingesandter ausführlichen Berichten.

Title page image courtesy of Paul Nicholas

While the reports are printed in gothic type, less accessible to a modern reader, they are immediately striking because of the illustrations they contain. Portraits, illustrations and maps reflect the subject matter of the reports ; the religion, social structure, customs and agriculture of the India these missionaries encountered.

Image showing “Das Königl. Dänischen Castel” Photo courtesy Paul Nicholas

Photo courtesy of Paul Nicholas

Paul Nicholas, Library Site Assistant (Cataloguing)

Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity

Source: Franckesche Stiftungen zu Halle http://www.francke-halle.de/homepage.html