Abstract The article is dedicated to practices of anthologisation and de-anthologisation, that is the compilation and publication of anthologies that serve as the starting point for subsequent editions of poetry. Just like anthologies, author- or genre-centred collections based on anthologies play an important role within literary historiography and the positioning in the literary field. Departing from this thesis, the article examines the prerequisites and editorial strategies as well as the historical and discursive position of Gottsched’s edition of Benjamin Neukirch’s selected poems Auserlesene Gedichte, printed in 1744. This edition, which is largely based on the epoch-making anthology Herrn von Hoffmannswaldau und andrer Deutschen auserlesene und bißher ungedruckte Gedichte (1695–1727), provides ex negativo evidence of the functions of anthologies in the formation of literary-historical thought in the early eighteenth century.
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