Writers such as Johann Christoph Rost, Christian Ludwig Liscow, Salomon Gessner, and Garlieb Helwig Merkel, who are now known only to literary historians, became bestselling authors during their time. Their works were praised by contemporaries for their originality and charisma. However, later generations denied them a place in the national canon. In the increasingly differentiated literary society of the 18th century, where the recognition of ever-new aesthetic concepts—and primarily market influence—was fiercely contested, their decline was already evident. They belong to the losers of early literary historiography. What led to their rise, and above all to their subsequent obscurity, is examined through the example of eleven authors from the period between the early and late Enlightenment. The exploration of various exclusion practices is intended as a contribution to the still young historical canon research of the 18th century.