Justinus Kerner

Kleksographs

Every picture, free to see

All 42 pictures of the 1890 printing, in the book’s order, each with what Kerner wrote beside it: a few lines of the verse or, on two, his own label.

  1. Frontispiece: a tall symmetrical ink blot with a white label at its centre, on which Kerner has written the title by hand

    On the label, in Kerner’s hand: Kleksographs, by Justinus Kerner.

    In the book: Title Page

  2. A wreath of ink with a moth at its foot; inside it, Kerner's handwritten title for the pictures

    Inside the wreath, in Kerner’s hand: Hades pictures, made by kleksography and explained in verse, by Justinus Kerner.

    In the book: Memento mori!

  3. A winged blot with a death's-head at its centre and a dark body hanging below

    Each one carries death within him,However it may glitter and laugh outside;Today you walk in the red of morningAnd tomorrow in the night of the shades.

    The whole poem, in Memento mori!

  4. A pale skeleton rising out of a grey blot, dark spots about its head and limbs

    Before the Hades pictures, even before them,There rose out of the ink’s night(My heart had not thought of them)The messengers of death.

    The whole poem, in Memento mori!

  5. A figure with a grinning death's-head and raised hands, arms akimbo, a long dark stripe down its pale body

    Look at the flying she-messenger of death,An evil spectre like the White Lady;When such a one flies into a house at night,Lays against the windowpane, like a glow-worm’s gleam,Her head, so that it shines into the room,Then someone is soon carried out of there dead.

    The whole poem, in Memento mori!

  6. A bearded man in a dark robe flinging up his arms, seated on a wall drawn in outline

    The ghost before foretells single deaths;This one, though, goes ahead of long black plagues.

    The whole poem, in Memento mori!

  7. A dark symmetrical figure under a black pointed cap, a pale face and two round eyes in the blot

    These pictures out of Hades,All black and full of dread,(Spirits they are, of very low degree,)Formed themselvesWithout my doing, to my fright,Solely: out of ink stains.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  8. A long pale face with a drawn mouth, above a body in a dark coat with a fur collar; a thin tail curls out at the right

    I have always thought, as I did it,That everywhere it is black and nightThe ghostly race goes haunting,And so in the inkwell too.You who write, beware!For I, the kleksographer, have discoveredThat in the inkwell there often lurksThe power of a poisonous demon.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  9. An inkwell with a quill standing in it, the pale mottled body of the well shaped like a demon's face when turned upside down

    Here is the inkwell with a mute pen;If you turn it round, everyone sees with amazementHow into a demon, bestially gross,The inkwell often transforms itself.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  10. A black rectangle of ink with one small white patch near its centre

    Of Hades this black leaf is a picture;Here is no starry sky, no field,Here is no human sound, no birdsong,Here no brook murmurs along a green valley,Here the noisy traffic of the market is still,Here, where only shades float mutely about.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  11. A moth with curved horns and striped body, its wings spread

    Here the heaviness of earth falls from you,Which your former erring life gave you,Which wrapped your soul about so heavilyThat instead of upward, alas, it went down!

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  12. A woman's figure with a dark head and pale face, in a gown with a pointed white bodice and a black skirt

    This is Frau von Schnepper, ha!Much astonished after her death,When she found herself in the middle realm,Not in the realm of heaven.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  13. A small woman with a dark face and a white bodice in a wide bell-shaped skirt, a bonnet spread behind her head

    When today I kleksographed,With coffee instead of ink,There came quickly strolling upFrau Councillor Salome.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  14. A pale grinning face with dark eyes under a pointed hood, the dark body seated behind a desk

    Files were his only joy,His only friend the clerk’s high stool,The cash box the feast of his eyes,The desk-felt the coat of his soul.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  15. A female figure with a skull-like face and hands on hips, a heart on her breast and a die at her waist

    This is a she-ghost who once in lifeLived wholly and solely for gaming and dancing;She had no heart, nor knew any,But the heart on the card, called the Coeur Ace.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  16. A long vertical figure with a skull at its centre and a second face below, grey wings spreading from it

    This spectre is dreadful!At midnight it risesFrom the Herr Baron’s vault.Then, when it sees a peasant,It plunges on him out of the air,Fastens on his heart and drawsAll the blood out of him, nearly.This spectre is called “Vampyr.”

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  17. A pale mottled figure standing in a black arched niche, a second face low on its body

    Ha! look at the lead-coloured man;On his life’s course he onceFelt nothing and thought nothingBut how one makes false coin.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  18. A winged shape with a dark round head, a small death's-head on its striped body

    This fire-crier,Giant butterfly of the night,Flies, when no one is awake any longer,Sometimes over the roofs.Then the air reddens all round,As if there were a monstrous blaze,And as if full of despair there criesOut of the air: “Fire! Fire!”

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  19. A bearded old man with long hair in a spotted cape, his hands together at his waist

    Out of the ruins of the castle dungeonIn the gleam of the moonThat old man often rises, pale.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  20. A spiny chrysalis lying on its side with a frowning face in it, long feelers at either end

    Even a chrysalis, that hybrid thingBetween the caterpillar and the butterfly,Rose out of Hades, wholly wingless.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  21. A hooded woman in a dark gown leaning against a tall cross patterned with pale shapes

    Often that she-ghost is seen in the moonlightAt midnight standing at the forest well;There she leans on the mossy cross of stone,As though she felt deep pangs beneath her heart.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  22. A crowned bust with a broad face, tears running in streams from both eyes

    Now he sits in the dread of HadesTill his tyrant’s rage is stilled;From his eyes, O horror!A whole brook of tears wells.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  23. A hooded woman with a pale face in a long black robe; down its front runs a pale skeleton

    The she-ghost here in black dressFloats out of the castle every nightAs soon as the tower bell strikes twelve;On her long black skirtA skeleton then forms,The dead skeleton of her husband;It glows like phosphorus through the night;She killed him with poison.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  24. A dark figure with a pale face set in a black canopy, as if in a pulpit

    On a pulpit there settles downEvery night that black ghost;Softly he prays, then louder again,And mostly he weeps the while.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  25. A grinning bearded face between dark masses that rise over its head like a burden of stone

    When I kleksographed in the moonlight,This spectre came up as if of stone,Yet it opened its mouth. With lamentationIt confessed its guilt to me, repentant.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  26. A black bird with outspread grey wings

    And when it calls so by Bingen,Of the caller one sees no trace;Only the moon sails still through the airAnd a black bird circles, only,Round the slain man’s wet tomb.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  27. A woman with long hair and a pale face, framed in an ornate dark mirror frame crowned with a jester's cap

    In a castle’s ladies’ chamberThere hung an ancient mirror;Now they keep it there under the roof,Fast under lock and bolt.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  28. One body with a single head and four legs, two figures grown together at the hips

    Once there were two comradesWho swore an oathThat each would take upon himselfThe other’s joy and sorrow.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  29. A bearded old man seated in a high-backed armchair, a white coin at his belly

    Do you see the old building of stone there?It is deathly still and empty inside,The rooms have fallen in,And the owls flutter about inside.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  30. A tall skeletal figure with ribs and long arms, between batlike wings at the head and the foot

    My picture too came out of the black inkwell.When I saw it, I went pale as a corpse.Out of the head come black vapours,The bad arts of medicine and poetry,The vapour of my whole vain life,Shame that I am unworthy of so much favour.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  31. A long thin figure with arms outstretched along a crossbar, a dark halo of strokes behind the head, grey masses at the hips

    No human hand made this picture;Like the others it came by its own power,Unforeseen, out of the ink’s night.

    The whole poem is in Hades Pictures, for members

  32. A cat's or devil's face, pale snout and eyes in a dark grey mass

    Spirits from a still deeper nightThe inkwell has brought up,When I stirred the dregs.

    The whole poem is in Hell Pictures, for members

  33. A horned devil's head over a coiled body, small pale human figures clinging at either side

    Often the black spirits cheatThe kleksographer by disguise;They often change their shapesTo pass themselves off for others;As in life once, the bright one,So in the black clefts of hellThey are and remain the oldFellows past mending.

    The whole poem is in Hell Pictures, for members

  34. A cat sitting on the head of a curly-wigged figure with a death's-head face and clawed arms raised; a small devil at its breast

    Here rose up the image of Falsehood;You, sprung from the pool of hell,Were my inkwell still full,I would have poured ink all over you.

    The whole poem is in Hell Pictures, for members

  35. A broad devil's face with pale eyes and a toothed grin, a cloak over its shoulders, small paws at its sides

    You devilish leer,Half man and half cat!What do you want of me?I do not kleksographKnights of the Broom;That is what you were;To the devil with you!

    The whole poem is in Hell Pictures, for members

  36. A goat-horned bearded figure in a dark coat with arms out, a thin tail below

    What this goblin once wasHas become clear to me alone.The one says: “A court clerk,A well-known glutton and goat-rider.”

    The whole poem is in Hell Pictures, for members

  37. A dark spiky demon's mask with two smaller beast heads at its shoulders

    This wholly devilish face(Believe it or believe it not)Was a wet nurse,Well practised on the broom;Many a child she bewitchedSo that it kicked and screamedUntil they pushed under the poor mite’sHead a Bible.

    The whole poem is in Hell Pictures, for members

  38. A small swaddled shape with dark wing-like lobes and a tiny face

    Here came the child that the witchSuckled and then bewitched;Only three ink blots, no more,Have blotted this child.

    The whole poem is in Hell Pictures, for members

  39. A squat horned figure with a broad dark face and pale eyes, bowed legs planted wide

    I looked at him, smiling, and said nothing but:“Praised be Jesus Christ!” At that he went suddenlyDown, with a cry of woe that was dreadful.

    The whole poem is in Hell Pictures, for members

  40. A hooded, bearded figure with a long pale face, holding a rod; around the head a drawn halo inscribed with a row of handwritten letters

    When today I kleksographed with printer’s ink,To which only the Devil seduced me,This scandalum came strolling up.

    The whole poem is in Hell Pictures, for members

  41. A solid black silhouette of a horned, tailed devil in profile, standing upright, a quill in one hand

    When I sat again with my penBefore the inkwell,And had dipped it deepInto the ink, down to the dregs,Something came crawling upLike the tail of a cat.I grew ever more afraid,For the thing grew ever longer,Far too long for a mouse,And the Devil crawled out.

    The whole poem is in Hell Pictures, for members

  42. A full page of small separate blots: moths and insects, several with death's-head faces, around a large dark shape

    When I wrote the above: “Brum! brum!”It sounded round my ear.Devilish moths,Black, flew round me in a ring;

    The whole poem is in Hell Pictures, for members

The book

Justinus Kerner (1786 to 1862), poet and physician of Weinsberg, dropped ink on paper, folded it, and found in the blots the figures he called Hades pictures; to each he wrote a verse. His preface is signed February 1857; the book was printed after his death, in Stuttgart, with the blots reproduced. This is its first English translation, as far as the press has been able to find.

These pictures are open to everyone. Club members read the whole book, every poem entire, with the translator’s notes. Accounts made and confirmed before January 1, 2027 are Charter Members, free, with every translation, for good.

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Kerner’s German text and his pictures are in the public domain. The pictures are reproduced from the Getty Research Institute’s copy, by way of the Internet Archive.

Translation © 2026 B. C. P. Statema. The Thinking Press, Kenosha, Wisconsin. All rights reserved.

The contents of Kleksographs · Passages free to read · All the translations