The eighth volume draws on printed and unprinted sources that give insights into Goethe's activities in the years 1811 and 1812. Important encounters in Bohemia are documented (Empress Maria Ludovica, Louis Bonaparte, Beethoven), Goethe makes the acquaintance of the French emissary Saint Aignan, he first meets Friedrich von Muller - with whom he was later to have a closer relationship - and the friendship with Sulpiz Boisseree begins with the visit in May 1811.