Hermann Hesse 
Butterflies: Reflections, Tales, and Verse 

This volume gathers the most alluring stories, recollections, contemplations and poems on butterflies by Herman Hesse. 

‘I have always had a connection with butterflies and other fleeting and ephemeral beauties, while I have never succeeded in maintaining permanent, committed and so-called solid relationships, ‘ writes Hermann Hesse in a letter from 1926. This preference, occasionally resembling an elective affinity, for ‘flowers and butterflies, that are of everlasting things, a fleeting allegory’ – as he says in one of his poems, has left its mark on Hesse’s entire oeuvre. 

Circa l’autore

JAKOB HÜBNER (1761-1826) was an Augsburger painter and textiles designer acclaimed for his colorful copper engravings, known as chalcographies, illustrating insects, flowers, and other natural wonders. This technique was among Hermann Hesse’s favorites as he thought it to be much more precise and beautiful than modern reproductions