The astonishing number of editions and copies of his works reveals that Joseph Viktor von Scheffel was one of the most popular German authors in the latter half of the nineteenth century; only Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller found greater favor in the eyes of the reading public. Such was the extent of Scheffel's literary success that for decades his Stuttgart publisher, Adolf Bonz, employed a huge Schnellpresse (an especially fast press) solely for the purpose of printing his works. After he achieved his breakthrough as a writer in 1868 with Gaudeamus! (translated, 1872), an enormously popular collection of poems and songs, Scheffel's earlier works Der Trompeter von Säckingen (1854; translated as The Trumpeter of Säkkingen, 1877) and Ekkehard (1855; translated, 1872) also became best-sellers. For decades Scheffel's reputation rested on these three books. He was admired by a large middle-class readership and celebrated by professional critics and...