Bibliography.—(a) Collected Works, Diaries, Correspondence, Conversations. The following authorized editions of Goethe’s writings appeared in the poet’s lifetime: Schriften (8 vols., Leipzig, 1787-1790); Neue Schriften (7 vols., Berlin, 1792-1800); Werke (13 vols., Stuttgart, 1806-1810);Werke (20 vols., Stuttgart, 1815-1819); to which six volumes were added in 1820-1822; Werke (Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand) (40 vols., Stuttgart, 1827-1830). Goethe’s Nachgelassene Werke appeared as a continuation of this edition in 15 volumes (Stuttgart, 1832-1834), to which five volumes were added in 1842. These were followed by several editions of Goethe’s Sämtliche Werke, mostly in forty volumes, published by Cotta of Stuttgart. The first critical edition with notes was published by Hempel, Berlin, in thirty-six volumes, 1868-1879; that in Kürschner’s Deutsche Nationalliteratur, vols. 82-117 (1882-1897) is also important. In 1887 the monumental Weimar edition, which is now approaching completion, began to appear; it is divided into four sections: I. Werke (c. 56 vols.); II. Naturwissenschaftliche Werke (12 vols.); III. Tagebücher (13 vols.); IV.Briefe (c. 45 vols.). Of other recent editions the most noteworthy are: Sämtliche Werke (Jubiläums-Ausgabe), edited by E. von der Hellen (40 vols., Stuttgart, 1902 ff.); Werke, edited by K. Heinemann (30 vols., Leipzig, 1900 ff.), and the cheap edition of the Sämtliche Werke, edited by L. Geiger (44 vols., Leipzig, 1901). There are also innumerable editions of selected works; reference need only be made here to the useful collection of the early writings and letters published by S. Hirzel with an introduction by M. Bernays, Der junge Goethe (3 vols., Leipzig, 1875, 2nd ed., 1887). A French translation of Goethe’s Œuvres complètes, by J. Porchat, appeared in 9 vols., at Paris, in 1860-1863. There is, as yet, no uniform English edition, but Goethe’s chief works have all been frequently translated and a number of them will be found in Bohn’s standard library.
The definitive edition of Goethe’s diaries and letters is that forming Sections III. and IV. of the Weimar edition. Collections of selected letters based on the Weimar edition have been published by E. von der Hellen (6 vols., 1901 ff.), and by P. Stein (8 vols., 1902 ff.). Of the many separate collections of Goethe’s correspondence mention may be made of the Briefwechsel zwischen Schiller und Goethe, edited by Goethe himself (1828-1829; 4th ed., 1881; also several cheap reprints. English translation by L. D. Schmitz, 1877-1879); Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter (6 vols., 1833-1834; reprint in Reclam’s Universalbibliothek, 1904; English translation by A. D. Coleridge, 1887); Bettina von Arnim, Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde (1835; 4th ed., 1890; English translation, 1838); Briefe von und an Goethe, edited by F. W. Riemer (1846); Goethes Briefe an Frau von Stein, edited by A. Schöll (1848-1851; 3rd ed. by J. Wahle, 1899-1900); Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und K. F. von Reinhard(1850); Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Knebel (2 vols., 1851); Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Staatsrat Schultz (1853); Briefwechsel des Herzogs Karl August mit Goethe (2 vols., 1863); Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Kaspar Graf von Sternberg (1866); Goethes naturwissenschaftliche Korrespondenz, and Goethes Briefwechsel mit den Gebrüdern von Humboldt, edited by F. T. Bratranek (1874-1876);Goethes und Carlyles Briefwechsel (1887), also in English; Goethe und die Romantik, edited by C. Schüddekopf and O. Walzel (2 vols., 1898-1899); Goethe und Lavater, edited by H. Funck (1901); Goethe und Österreich, edited by A. Sauer (2 vols., 1902-1903). Besides the correspondence with Schiller and Zelter, Bonn’s library contains a translation of Early and Miscellaneous 188Letters, by E. Bell (1884). The chief collections of Goethe’s conversations are: J. P. Eckermann, Gespräche mit Goethe (1836; vol. iii., also containing conversations with Soret, 1848; 7th ed. by H. Düntzer, 1899; also new edition by L. Geiger, 1902; English translation by J. Oxenford, 1850). The complete conversations with Soret have been published in German translation by C. A. H. Burkhardt (1905); Goethes Unterhaltungen mit dem Kanzler F. von Müller (1870). Goethe’s collected Gespräche were published by W. von Biedermann in 10 vols. (1889-1896).
(b) Biography.—Goethe’s autobiography, Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit, appeared in three parts between 1811 and 1814, a fourth part, bringing the history of his life as far as his departure for Weimar in 1775, in 1833 (English translation by J. Oxenford, 1846); it is supplemented by other biographical writings, as the Italienische Reise, Aus einer Reise in die Schweiz im Jahre 1797; Aus einer Reise am Rhein, Main und Neckar in den Jahren 1814 und 1815, Tag- und Jahreshefte, &c., and especially by his diaries and correspondence. The following are the more important biographies: H. Döring, Goethes Leben (1828; subsequent editions, 1833, 1849, 1856); H. Viehoff, Goethes Leben (4 vols., 1847-1854; 5th ed., 1887); J. W. Schäfer, Goethes Leben (2 vols., 1851; 3rd ed., 1877); G. H. Lewes, The Life and Works of Goethe (2 vols., 1855; 2nd ed., 1864; 3rd ed., 1875; cheap reprint, 1906; the German translation by J. Frese is in its 18th edition, 1900; a shorter biography was published by Lewes in 1873 under the title The Story of Goethe’s Life); W. Mézières, W. Goethe, les œuvres expliquées par la vie (1872-1873); A. Bossert,Goethe (1872-1873); K. Goedeke, Goethes Leben und Schriften (1874; 2nd ed., 1877); H. Grimm, Goethe: Vorlesungen (1876; 8th ed., 1903; English translation, 1880); A. Hayward, Goethe (1878); H. H. Boyesen, Goethe and Schiller, their Lives and Works (1879); H. Düntzer, Goethes Leben (1880; 2nd ed., 1883; English translation, 1883); A. Baumgartner, Goethe, sein Leben und seine Werke (1885); J. Sime, Life of Goethe(1888); K. Heinemann, Goethes Leben und Werke (1889; 3rd ed., 1903); R. M. Meyer, Goethe (1894; 3rd ed., 1904); A. Bielschowsky, Goethe, sein Leben und seine Werke (vol. i., 1895; 5th ed., 1904; vol. ii., 1903; English translation by W. A. Cooper, 1905 ff.); G. Witkowsky, Goethe (1899); H. G. Atkins, J. W. Goethe (1904); P. Hansen and R. Meyer, Goethe, hans Liv og Vaerker (1906).
Of writings on special periods and aspects of Goethe’s life the more important are as follows (the titles are arranged as far as possible in the chronological sequence of the poet’s life): H. Düntzer, Goethes Stammbaum (1894); K. Heinemann, Goethes Mutter (1891; 6th ed., 1900); P. Bastier, La Mère de Goethe (1902); Briefe der Frau Rat (2 vols., 2nd ed., 1905); F. Ewart, Goethes Vater (1899); G. Witkowski, Cornelia die Schwester Goethes (1903); P. Besson, Goethe, sa sœur et ses amies (1898); H. Düntzer, Frauenbilder aus Goethes Jugendzeit (1852); W. von Biedermann, Goethe und Leipzig (1865); P. F. Lucius, Friederike Brion (1878; 3rd ed., 1904); A. Bielschowsky, Friederike Brion (1880); F. E. von Durckheim, Lili’s Bild geschichtlich entworfen (1879; 2nd ed., 1894); W. Herbst, Goethe in Wetzlar (1881); A. Diezmann, Goethe und die lustige Zeit in Weimar (1857; 2nd ed., 1901); H. Düntzer, Goethe und Karl August (1859-1864; 2nd ed., 1888); also, by the same author, Aus Goethes Freundeskreise (1868) and Charlotte von Stein (2 vols., 1874); J. Haarhuus, Auf Goethes Spuren in Italien (1896-1898); O. Harnack, Zur Nachgeschichte der italienischen Reise (1890); H. Grimm, Schiller und Goethe (Essays, 1858; 3rd ed., 1884); G. Berlit, Goethe und Schiller im persönlichen Verkehre, nach brieflichen Mitteilungen von H. Voss (1895); E. Pasqué, Goethes Theaterleitung in Weimar (2 vols., 1863); C. A. H. Burkhards, Das Repertoire des weimarischen Theaters unter Goethes Leitung (1891); J. Wahle, Das Weimarer Hoftheater unter Goethes Leitung(1892); O. Harnack, Goethe in der Epoche seiner Vollendung (2nd ed., 1901); J. Barbey d’Aurevilly, Goethe et Diderot (1880); A Fischer, Goethe und Napoleon (1899; 2nd ed., 1900); R. Steig, Goethe und die Gebrüder Grimm (1892).
(c) Criticism.—H. G. Graef, Goethe über seine Dichtungen (1901 ff.); J. W. Braun, Goethe im Urteile seiner Zeitgenossen (3 vols., 1883-1885); T. Carlyle, Essays on Goethe (1828-1832); X. Marmier, Études sur Goethe (1835); W. von Biedermann, Goethe-Forschungen (1879, 1886); J. Minor and A. Sauer, Studien zur Goethe-Philologie (1880); H. Düntzer, Abhandlungen zu Goethes Leben und Werken (1881); A. Schöll, Goethe in Hauptzügen seines Lebens und Wirkens (1882); V. Hehn, Gedanken über Goethe (1884; 4th ed., 1900); W. Scherer, Aufsätze über Goethe (1886); J. R. Seeley, Goethe reviewed after Sixty Years (1894); E. Dowden, New Studies in Literature (1895); É. Rod, Essai sur Goethe (1898); A. Luther,Goethe, sechs Vorträge (1905); R. Saitschik, Goethes Charakter (1898); W. Bode, Goethes Lebenskunst (1900; 2nd ed., 1902); by the same,Goethes Ästhetik (1901); T. Vollbehr, Goethe und die bildende Kunst (1895); E. Lichtenberger, Études sur les poésies lyriques de Goethe (1878); T. Achelis, Grundzüge der Lyrik Goethes (1900); B. Litzmann, Goethes Lyrik (1903); R. Riemann, Goethes Romantechnik (1901); R. Virchow, Goethe als Naturforscher (1861); E. Caro, La Philosophie de Goethe (1866; 2nd ed., 1870); R. Steiner, Goethes Weltanschauung (1897); F. Siebeck,Goethe als Denker (1902); F. Baldensperger, Goethe en France (1904); S. Waetzoldt, Goethe und die Romantik (1888).
More special treatises dealing with individual works are the following: W. Scherer, Aus Goethes Frühzeit (1879); R. Weissenfels, Goethe in Sturm und Drang, vol. i. (1894); W. Wilmanns, Quellenstudien zu Goethes Götz von Berlichingen (1874); J. Baechtold, Goethes Götz von Berlichingen in dreifacher Gestalt (1882); J. W. Appell, Werther und seine Zeit (1855; 4th ed., 1896); E. Schmidt, Richardson, Rousseau und Goethe (1875); M. Herrmann, Das Jahrmarktsfest zu Plundersweilen (1900); E. Schmidt, Goethes Faust in ursprünglicher Gestalt (1887; 5th ed., 1901); J. Collin, Goethes Faust in seiner ältesten Gestalt (1896); H. Hettner, Goethes Iphigenie in ihrem Verhältnis zur Bildungsgeschichte des Dichters (1861; in Kleine Schriften, 1884); K. Fischer, Goethes Iphigenie (1888); F. T. Bratranek, Goethes Egmont und Schillers Wallenstein(1862); C. Schuchardt, Goethes italienische Reise (1862); H. Düntzer, Iphigenie auf Tauris; die drei ältesten Bearbeitungen (1854); F. Kern,Goethes Tasso (1890); J. Schubart, Die philosophischen Grundgedanken in Goethes Wilhelm Meister (1896); E. Boas, Schiller und Goethe in Xenienkampf (1851); E. Schmidt and B. Suphan, Xenien 1796, nach den Handschriften (1893); W. von Humboldt, Ästhetische Versuche: Hermann und Dorothea (1799); V. Hehn, Über Goethes Hermann und Dorothea (1893); A. Fries, Quellen und Komposition der Achilleis (1901); K. Alt,Studien zur Entstehungsgeschichte von Dichtung und Wahrheit (1898); A. Jung, Goethes Wanderjahre und die wichtigsten Fragen des 19. Jahrhunderts (1854); F. Kreyssig, Vorlesungen über Goethes Faust (1866); the editions of Faust by G. von Loeper (2 vols., 1879), and K. J. Schröer (2 vols., 3rd and 4th ed., 1898-1903); K. Fischer, Goethes Faust (3 vols., 1893, 1902, 1903); O. Pniower, Goethes Faust, Zeugnisse und Excurse zu seiner Entstehungsgeschichte (1899); J. Minor, Goethes Faust, Entstehungsgeschichte und Erklärung (2 vols., 1901).
(d) Bibliographical Works, Goethe-Societies, &c.—L. Unflad, Die Goethe-Literatur in Deutschland (1878); S. Hirzel, Verzeichnis einer Goethe-Bibliothek (1884), to which G. von Loeper and W. von Biedermann have supplied supplements. F. Strehlke, Goethes Briefe: Verzeichnis unter Angabe der Quelle (1882-1884); British Museum Catalogue of Printed Books: Goethe (1888); Goedeke’s Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung (2nd ed., vol. iv. 1891); and the bibliographies in the Goethe-Jahrbuch (since 1880). Also K. Hoyer, Zur Einführung in die Goethe-Literatur (1904). On Goethe in England see E. Oswald, Goethe in England and America (1899; 2nd ed., 1909); W. Heinemann, A Bibliographical List of the English Translations and Annotated Editions of Goethe’s Faust (1886). Reference may also be made here to F. Zarncke’s Verzeichnis der Originalaufnahmen von Goethes Bildnissen (1888).
A Goethe-Gesellschaft was founded at Weimar in 1885, and numbers over 2800 members; its publications include the annual Goethe-Jahrbuch(since 1880), and a series of Goethe-Schriften. A Goethe-Verein has existed in Vienna since 1887, and an English Goethe society, which has also issued several volumes of publications, since 1886.