O Stern und Blume, Geist und Kleid

Marianne Schneider, our long-time friend, advisor, editor and translator on questions and topics of Italian literature and art, passed away on 2 February 2023 in Florence. We feel her death as a bitter loss and want to cherish her memory with a series of new editions of her numerous books, which she created over the years of her work for our house.
The first book in this series is her anthology of flower poems. At the time, she chose a line of poetry by Clemens Brentano as the title: "O star and flower, spirit and dress". It brings together the most beautiful poems in German in praise of flowers from the 16th century to the present day, from Walther von der Vogelweide and Luther's translation of the Song of Solomon to the playful poems of Eugen Gomringer and Ernst Jandl.
Marianne Schneider and Lothar Schirmer jointly selected the accompanying pictures from the pool of artists from international art history. Marianne Schneider has given an account of the principles of the selection in a foreword.
The first edition of this anthology was published in 2001, and we are pleased to present it again now, even though the immediate occasion is a sad one. Marianne Schneider gave the book Rilke's XXII Sonnet to Orpheus as its motto, the last lines of which are prefaced here:
All is rested:
Darkness and brightness
Flower and book.