Volume IV of the historical-critical edition of Eichendorff's works at last makes the author's second major novel available in the original orthography of the first edition. The documentation on the various versions of the novel in the Commentary makes the textual history of »Dichter und ihre Gesellen« transparent for the first time. The Commentary rounds off with information on the genesis of the work and the contemporary reception accorded to it, explanatory notes on content and individual words, and references to literary and historical models and motivic parallels in other works.