Isenberg, Bibliography

(1) Sources

1.1 Linguistic publications

Krapf, Johann Ludwig. An Imperfect Outline of the Elements of the Galla LanguagePreceded by a few remarks concerning the nation of the (Oromo), and an evangelical Mission among them, by the Rev. C. W. Isenberg. London: for the Church Missionary Society, 1840. [View online]

Isenberg, Charles William [i.e. Carl Wilhelm]. A Small Vocabulary of the Dankali [i.e. Afar] Language. London: R. Watts [printed for the Church Missionary Society], 1840. [Google Books]

Isenberg, Charles William. Dictionary of the Amharic Language. In two parts: Amharic and English and English and Amharic. 2 parts. London: R. Watts [printed for the Church Missionary Society], 1841. [View online]

—. Grammar of the Amharic Language. [London: R. Watts; printed for the Church Missionary Society] 1842. [View online]

1.2 Travel reports

Isenberg, Charles William and Johann Ludwig Krapf. Journals of the Rev. Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf Detailing their Proceedings in the Kingdom of Shoa and Journeys in Other Parts of Abyssinia in the Years 1839, 1840, 1841, and 1842, with a Geographical Memoir by James McQueen. London: Trübner, 1843. [View reprint London: Frank Cass, 1968 at Internet Archive]

Isenberg, Carl Wilhelm. Abessinien und die evangelische Mission: Erlebnisse in Aegypten, auf und an dem Rothen Meere, dem Meerbusen von Aden, und besonders in Abessinien; Tagebuch meiner dritten Missionsreise vom Mai 1842 bis December 1843. Introduction by C. J. Nitzsch. 2 vols. Bonn: Adolph Marcus, 1844. [Google Books]

1.3 Amharic publications

Isenberg, Carl Wilhelm. የትምህርት፡ መጀመርያ […; The beginning of education]. London: R. Watts, 1840. [Digitale Sammlungen]

—. ከቴኺስሞስ፡ ማለቱ፡ የክርስቲያን፡ ትምህርት፡ መዝግብ፡ በጥያቂና፡ በምላሽ. [Catechism, meaning ledger (lit. treasury) of Christian education in question and answer (i.e. Heidelberg Catechism)]. London: R. Watts, 1841. [Digitale Sammlungen]

—. Regni Dei in terris historia amharicè / የእግዚአቢሔር፡ መንግሥት፡ ታሪክ. 2 vols. London: R. Watts, 1841. [Digitale Sammlungen]

  • 2nd ed. by Martin Flad. St. Chrischona: Mission press, 1893.

—. ጄዎግራፊያ፡ ማለቱ፡ የምድር፡ ትምህርት. [Geography, meaning the science of earth]. London: R. Watts, 1841. [Digitale Sammlungen]

— (in Latin: Carolus Guilielmus Isenberg). Adumbratio historiae mundi amharicé / የዓለም፡ ታሪክ […; Outline of world history in Amharic]. London: R. Watts, 1842. [Digitale Sammlungen]

—. Liturgia seu liber precum communium, et administrationis sacramentorum, aliorumque rituum et caeremoniarum ecclesiae juxta usum ecclesiae anglicanae et hibernicae: Unà cum psalterio […] amharice / የጉባኤ፡ ጸሎት […] [(Anglican Book of) Common Prayer (…) with psalter in Amharic]. London: SPCK [Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge], 1842. [View online]

1.4 Tigrinya publications

Krapf, Johann Ludwig, Carl Wilhelm Isenberg, and debtera Matteos. Evangelia Sacra Jesu Christi sub auspiciis Caroli Guilielmi Isenberg ecclesiae anglicanae Presbyteri, apud Habessinos quondam per sexennium degentis et anno 1864 vita defuncti, in linguam Tigricam vertit Debterea Matheos Habessinus Adoae, Tigriae oppido, natus, nunc primim in lucem edita per Johannem Ludovicum Krapf […]. [Holy Gospels of Jesus Christ, translated into the Tigre (correct: Tigrinya) Language by the Abyssinian debtera Matteos, and revised by the deceased Rev. Mr. Isenberg …]. St. Chrischona: Mission Press, 1866. (Printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society) [Google Books

(2) Archival material

Staatsbibliothek [State Library] Berlin

The library holds several Ge’ez manuscripts brought from Ethiopia by Isenberg as well as his handwritten revision of the Four Gospels translated into Tigrinya (Ms. or. fol. 445).

(3) Secondary Literature

Arén, Gustav. Evangelical Pioneers in Ethiopia: Origins of the Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. Stockholm: EFS förlaget; Addis Ababa: Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, 1978. [For Isenberg, see p. 61-72, 74, 81-84, 88, 166; view online]

Crummey, Donald, and Wolbert Smidt. “Isenberg, Carl Wilhelm”, in Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 3, ed. S. Uhlig, p. 197-98. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007.

Gundert, Hermann. “Erinnerung an Missionar C.W. Isenberg”, Evangelisches Missions-Magazin, Neue Folge 10 (1866), 130-44, 177-90, 225-35, 257-79. [Digitale Sammlungen]

  • Engl. version: Biography of the Rev. Charles Isenberg, Missionary of the Church Missionary Society to Abyssinia and Western India from 1832 to 1864. Transl. by C. & M. Isenberg. London: Church Missionary Society, 1885. [Google Books]

Paulau, Stanislau. “Encountering the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the Pre-Ecumenical Age: Some Remarks on the First Protestant Missionaries in Ethiopia (1829–1843)”. In Movements in Ethiopia, Ethiopia in Movement, vol. 1, ed. É. Ficquet, A. Hassen Omer and Th. Osmond, p. 175-84. Addis Ababa: Centre français des études éthiopiennes, 2016.

Pankhurst, Richard. “The Foundation of Education, Printing, Newspapers, Book Production, Libraries and Literacy in Ethiopia”, Ethiopia Observer 6, no. 3 (1962), 241-90.

Cross-reference

» Report of the BFBS, excerpts (1865-96)