Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 to 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist and polymath, the author of Faust and The Sorrows of Young Werther.

Born in the Free City of Frankfurt, Goethe first won attention with the play Götz von Berlichingen (1773). The following year his novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers made him famous across Europe: published anonymously by the Weygand bookshop in Leipzig on 29 September 1774, it set off a fashion for dressing like its hero and was banned in Leipzig in 1775. A revised edition followed in 1787. In 1775 he moved to Weimar at the invitation of Duke Karl August, becoming his adviser, superintendent of the ducal library and, from 1782 to 1784, finance minister. He was ennobled in 1782, hence the "von". His later works include Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Elective Affinities (1809), Italian Journey (1816 to 1817) and the poetry collection West-Eastern Divan (1819). Faust, Part One appeared in 1808; Part Two was finished shortly before his death in Weimar and published posthumously in 1832.

For collectors

The first edition of Werther (Leipzig, 1774) is the cornerstone Goethe book; it was issued anonymously. English collectors also seek The Sorrows of Werter (1779), the first English version, translated by Daniel Malthus from a French translation rather than from the German. The first editions of Faust, Part One (1808) and the posthumous Part Two (1832) are the other principal targets.