Busch stopped painting in 1896 and signed over all publication rights to Bassermann Verlag for 50,000 gold marks. Busch, now aged 64, felt old. He needed spectacles for writing and painting, and his hands trembled slightly. In 1898, together with his aging sister Fanny Nöldeke, he accepted Bassermann's suggestion to move into a large parsonage in Mechtshausen. Busch read biographies, novels and stories in German, English and French. He organized his works and wrote letters and poems. Most of the poems from the collections "Schein und Sein" and "Zu guter Letzt" were written in 1899. The following years were eventless for Busch.