Within a classical context, citations from Antique authors often appear
as signs of affinity, but without quotation marks. Danish playwright Ludvig
Holberg is a case in point. The Romantic idea of originality puts an end to
this kind of mutual borrowing. By thoroughly examining different, but more or
less obvious and more or less hidden citations in Jens Baggesen’s sentimental
travelogue Labyrinten (The Labyrinth, 1792–93) it is argued, that this late Eighteenth Century book wavers between addressing anonymous readers on a liberal market and even very particular friends, benefactors and patrons. In addition, it is demonstrated how Baggesen’s famous ascent of the Strasbourg Cathedral is a textual montage of extensive but hidden borrowings from a contemporary guidebook.