How we verify the library
Every record in this catalogue states where a text can be read and whether its scholarly citation has been confirmed against a printed edition. This page explains what those claims mean and how they are enforced.
The mistake that produced the rule
Early in this project a passage was published here attributed to a public-domain translation from 1915. The wording was in fact from the 1957 American Edition, which is under copyright. Nobody was misled for long and nothing turned on it, but the error was not a typo. It was a whole class of error: a citation typed from memory because it felt familiar enough not to check.
The rule that came out of it is narrow and absolute. We do not type a reading reference or a textual attribution from memory. Either it has been checked against a dated edition or the page says it has not.
The four availability states
Every one of the 50 catalogued works is in exactly one of these, and the record says which on its face.
- Hosted here (2 works). The complete text is served from this site. We have confirmed both that the work is in the public domain in the United States and that the specific translation posted is the one we believe it to be. Those are two separate questions, and the second is where things go wrong.
- Excerpt here (3 works). One passage is served from this site, checked against a dated edition; the rest of the text is not yet, so we have not published it. The record links straight to a complete free copy in the meantime. This is a holding state, not a destination: it closes the moment the rest is transcribed and checked.
- Free elsewhere (32 works). Public domain and readable at no cost, but not from us. We name the source rather than describing it vaguely, so you can judge it yourself.
- Catalogue only (13 works). In copyright. We hold a record and list routes to buy or borrow, publisher first. We do not host it and we do not pretend it does not exist.
A further 2 records carry an unresolved rights question that is actively blocking us from hosting the text. The reason is printed on the record, in full, rather than left as a silent absence.
What "checked against print" means
Records carry Weimar Ausgabe (WA), Luther's Works American Edition (LW), and Book of Concord references. A citation is marked checked only when someone has confirmed it against a printed edition, not against a reference work, a database, or another website that probably got it from the same place.
Of 50 works, 2 carry citations confirmed this way. The other 48 are taken from standard reference works and say so on the record. Reference works are usually right. Usually is not the same thing as checked, and the difference is the only reason this field exists.
What we do not do
- No affiliate links. Not on any purchase route, anywhere in the catalogue. The build fails if an affiliate tag is introduced, so this is enforced rather than promised.
- No purchase route without a borrowing route. Every buy link sits beside a library or lending link. Interlibrary loan reaches further than most people expect and costs nothing.
- No hosting under an unresolved rights question. If we are not sure, the record says we are not sure and points you somewhere that is.
Use the data
The whole catalogue, including the availability state and verification status of every record, is published as JSON at /library/data.json under a CC0 public domain dedication. No key, no account, no attribution required. If you are building something that needs to know where a Luther text can legally be read, take it.
If you find an error in a citation here, it is an error we want to know about. That is the whole point of publishing the standard alongside the work.