Johann Friedrich Cotta (1764--1832) was the most eminent publisher in the age of Goethe. In only a few years he turned his company into the leading publishing house of German "National Literature" and the biggest general publisher of his age by publishing writers such as Goethe, Schiller, Hölderlin, Jean Paul, Herder, Varnhagen von Ense, Alexander von Humboldt, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel. For the first time, this bibliography records the development of the Cotta Verlag under the guidance of Johann Friedrich Cotta. A total of 2,246 entries list every edition of each title published by Cotta.

In 2006 this bibliography received an "Honourable Mention" at the 'ILAB Prize for Bibliography' award ceremony, held by the The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) every four years.

The Cotta bibliography was also awarded with the 10th ANTIQUARIA Prize for book culture 2004.