A revised and updated version of
Abraham Kuyper: An Annotated Bibliography 1857-2010 by Tjitze Kuipers (2011)

You can buy a printed edition of this book on the site of the publisher.

1883

Tractaat van de reformatie der kerken, aan de zonen der Reformatie hier te lande op Luther’s vierde eeuwfeest aangeboden.
Amsterdam, Höveker & Zoon 1883 (Amsterdam, Roeloffzen & Hübner). XXII, [1], 210, [2] pp., 25cm.—unbd. ƒ5.50.
Run: 300.
Published: November 1883.
Preface dated: Amsterdam, October 1, 1883.
Dedication: Aan Jonkheer Meester P.J. Elout van Soeterwoude den langst ons gegunde van het edel drietal dat uit ’s lands raadzaal vorst en volk in kerk en staat terugriep naar het Woord des Heeren, wordt dit Tractaat over de Reformatie der Kerken aan den avond zijns levens met dankbare hulde opgedragen door den Schrijver.
Printed on laid paper; deckle edge.
Cheap edition, see: 1884.06.
Translation (English), see: 1977.05; 2016{.03}
Binding: limp glazed parchment paper; turn-in; stamped front cover with an elegantly elaborated initial and stamped spine. Quarter parchement; black stamped title together with decorations in black on the spine.
RKB 79.
ET: Treatise on the reformation of the churches, offered to the sons of the Reformation here in this country on Luther’s fourth centenary.

The fourth centenary of Luther’s birth provided the occasion for this treatise, which offers a new plan for reformation. In the preface, Kuyper contends that Luther always remained in the public eye even in the Calvinist Netherlands. Furthermore, Luther serves as a witness that the reformation of the church may require the breaking of church relations. In a brief introduction following the preface Kuyper comments that this treatise is “only the pale silhouette of what a ‘handbook for a Reformed church order’ should be.” Four main chapters follow: (1) “Algemeene beginselen” [General principles (i.e., what constitutes the being of the church)]; (2) “Van de rechte formatie der kerken” [Concerning the right formation of the churches]; (3) “Van de deformatie der kerken” [Concerning the deformation of the churches]; and (4) “Van de reformatie der kerken” [Concerning the reformation of the churches].

The book had its origins in four lectures about the reformation of the church, which Kuyper delivered as an elder in De Broederkring [The Circle of Brothers] during the months of March, April, and May 1883. The Circle of Brothers was a group of like-minded members of the Consistory of the Dutch Reformed Congregation of Amsterdam who advocated making subscription to the three forms of unity mandatory and who regularly consulted with one another about their lines of action in the consistory. De Broederkring was the successor of Beraad (see 1872.12). This publication has rightly been called the blueprint of the Doleantie (cf. 1886.25). It is dedicated to P.J. Elout van Soeterwoude, who “from the council chamber of the land harkened rulers and people in church and state back to the Word of the Lord.”