Christoffel Van Sichem in Basel

Modern German poetry virtually begins with the adoption of the alexandrine and other Romance verse-forms by Martin Opitz in 1624. There were earlier unsuccessful attempts to introduce them. This book is concerned with one of them: the use of alexandrines on German broadsheets published in Holland before 1624 and the important part played in it by the engraver Christoffel van Sichem I, who appears here in a new light. His life and work and associates in Basel and in Holland are explored in depth, and much new information about him is brought to light, which will be of interest to art historians. The literary historian will find much that is new about the early stages of German baroque literature, including a study of a non-Opitzian tradition of German poetry in Switzerland.