Noting in 1741 the obscurity into which a translation by Johann Hellwig had fallen, Johann Christoph Gottsched acidly observed "daß die Seltenheit eines Buches öfter ein Zeichen eines schlechten, als eines sonderbaren Werthes sey" (that the obscurity of a book is more often an indication of meager than of unique worth). With this remark Hellwig was reduced to little more than a footnote in literary history until his rehabilitation in the late twentieth century. Although he lacked the genius of his mentors Georg Philipp Harsdörffer, Johann Klaj, and Sigmund von Birken, he possessed acute skills of invention and was one of the most active members of the Nuremberg literary society Löblicher Hirten-und Blumenorden an der Pegnitz (Honorable Order of Shepherds and Flowers on the Pegnitz), usually called the Pegnesischer Blumenorden. He was a prolific composer of occasional verse; he made noteworthy contributions to...