Benjamin Neukirch is best known as the original editor of Germany's first serial poetry anthology, Herrn von Hoffmannswaldau und andrer Deutschen auserlesene und bißher ungedruckte Gedichte (Selected and Never Previously Printed Poems of Hoffmannswaldau and Other Germans), which appeared in seven volumes between 1695 and 1727 and became a model for other writers and critics. Neukirch also taught entire generations the art of writing personal letters, and he was a distinguished translator. His contemporaries revered him as one of the last of the Silesian baroque writers and as a gifted poet-indeed, a "prince of poets." For Johann Christoph Gottsched, Neukirch strove to realize the early eighteenth century's highest ideals: truth, virtue, sensibility, and good taste. Despite his reputation, Neukirch was never able to collect his writings in a single edition, and the locations of his manuscripts are unknown. Therefore, a full critical assessment of his work remains a...