The Sorrows of Young Werther is a story about unrequited love, primarily presented as a collection of letters written by Werther, a young artist of a sensitive and passionate temperament, to his friend Wilhelm. The story gives an intimate account of Werther's stay in the fictional village of Wahlheim, whose peasants have enchanted him with their simple ways. There he meets Charlotte, a beautiful young girl who takes care of her siblings after the death of their mother. Werther falls in love with Charlotte despite knowing beforehand that she is engaged to a man named Albert, eleven years her senior.

The Sorrows of Young Werther was one of the most important novels in the Sturm und Drang period in German literature, and influenced the later Romantic movement. The book was originally published anonymously, and Goethe distanced himself from the book in his later years, regretting the fame it had brought him and the consequent attention to his own youthful love of Charlotte Buff, then engaged to another man.

This case laminate collector's edition includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket.