The Blue Flower

A quarter of a century ago I was a bookdealer, ~ secondhand and antiquarian. I could not resist keeping some of my stock and one such book is "The Blue Flower" by Henry van Dyke (1852-1933) published in 1902.

I kept this First Edition for its beautiful cover, its delicate illustrations and its gilt-topped handcut pages, ~ a work of art.

For twenty-five years it sat unread until time permitted me to put that to rights. Fascinating, mystical short stories. However, when I came to turn page 203 it was uncut, ~ so it was not twenty-five but one hundred and five years that its words had waited to be read.

In the literary world the Blue Flower (Blaue Blume) was the symbol of Romanticism, ~ van Dyke followed in the footsteps of Novalis (Georg Friederich Frihen von Hardenberg 1772-1801) who, with Ludwig Tiech found the Romantic Movement. (Ludwig Tiech's sister Sophie married August Ferdinand BERNHARDI)

To strive for the infinite and unreachable is to be 'always looking for the Blue Flower'.