Gottfried Keller is remembered as a great author of such books as “Green Henry” and “The People of Seldwyla”. Gottfried Keller was employed as a secretary at City Hall from 1861 to 1876. One of his favorite pubs was the Öpfelkammer, Zürich’s oldest tavern, where he still looks down from the wall today with a severe expression. The Zürich Novellas in 1876/77 were the first works that Keller had published after quitting his job and becoming a freelance author. They are a tribute to the canton and city of Zürich, the history of which is elaborated and poetically presented in five episodes.
The Zürich Central Library is responsible for the literary legacy that Gottfried Keller willed to what was then the Zürich City Library in 1890.