WELT-BOTT, DER NEUE. — Collection of missionary letters and reports, published during the period 1726–61 and comprising 5 large tomes, divided into 9 volumes, which contain 40 parts, each of them consisting of 100 to 120 small booklets, progressively numbered, with its own title, preface, and index.
The collection was begun in 1726 by Fr. J. Stöcklein (v.), who began by translating the Lettres édifiantes et curieuses (v.) of the French Jesuits, to which were added the Nouveaux mémoires des missions de la Compagnie de Jésus dans le Levant, published in Paris from 1715 onward. The versions offered in German, however, possess particular value, because they were made directly from the original letters, whereas the French editors had introduced substantial abridgements and alterations (cf. T. Chaney, Vie du p. Roman Hinderer de la C.d.J., Tournai 1889, p. 12). To these letters many others were added, received directly from missionaries—German Jesuits scattered throughout all the missions—with whom the editor maintained close relations; nor were all the letters reproduced written by his confrères, but also by members of other religious Orders and by Isici. The immense body of material was selected and grouped according to a predetermined order. Worthy of note are the careful attention given to historical and critical accuracy, whereby letters lacking a heading, the author’s signature, or the date—day, month, year, and place—were omitted; the liveliness of the descriptions; the geographical elucidations; the style and language; the edification (provided, however, without exaggerations or features suggestive of the marvelous and of alteration); and the numerous maps and copperplates.
At Fr. Stöcklein’s death, 3 tomes in 5 volumes and 24 parts had been published, all issued at Augsburg–Graz: I, parts 1–8 (1726; 2nd ed. 1729); II, I, parts 9–11 (1727; 2nd ed. 1729); III, II, parts 12–16 (1729); III, I, parts 17–20 (1732); III, II, parts 21–24 (posthumously edited by Fr. Karl Mayer, 1736). Fr. Stöcklein’s successors generally adhered to his program, and they did not lack material, since the German Jesuits on mission were continually increasing in number and extending their labors into new missions. Tomes IV and V were published in Vienna. Fr. Pietro Probst published vol. IV, I, parts 25–28 (1748); Fr. Franz Keller, vol. IV, II, parts 29–32 (1755) and V, I, parts 33–36 (1758); Fr. Franz Xaver Socher, V, II, parts 37–40 (1761); of this last volume, only one copy is known, in private possession in Vienna (cf. A. Våth, s.V. in L. Koch, Jesuiten Lexikon, Paderborn 1934, col. 1838).
The collection, a rich source of information, avidly read upon its appearance in all the convents and at the courts of princes and of the emperor, is now difficult to find complete.