Sämtliche Werke: in dreisig Bänden. Vollständige, neugeordnete Ausgabe.

Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta,, 1850-51. Handsome set of his oeuvre An appealing set of the author's complete writings, published almost two decades after his death in 1832, here in a uniform and contemporary binding executed in England. Along with Faust, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, the edition includes his essays, his autobiography, his travelogue Italian Journey, and his scientific Theory of Colours. Johann Friedrich Cotta (1764-1832), Goethe's publisher-in-chief, issued the first collected edition of Goethe in 1809 and published further editions as Goethe's output continued to expand. Like Goethe, Cotta was among the most important German figures of his career, and both died in the same year. Following this, the Cotta firm continued to publish Goethe in comprehensive editions. 30 volumes in 18, octavo (215 x 131 mm). Contemporary English brown half calf, red and green spine labels lettered in gothic script, compartments decorated in gilt, blind dog-tooth roll on sides and corners, marbled sides, endpapers, and edges. Calling card of chemist W. B. Knight of Wiveliscombe, Somerset, loosely inserted in vol. I. Gilt bright, bindings slightly rubbed with stripping of leather and occasional spots of wear, remaining sound, sporadic internal foxing. A very good set.