Johann Peter Eckermann was born in 1792 in Harburg. In 1823 he sent Goethe, his childhood idol, the manuscript of his book, and he became Goethe's unpaid literary assistant for nine years. This long relationship led to the creation of Eckermann's most well-remembered work Conversations of Goethe, first published in 1836. Eckermann died in 1854 in Weimar, Prussia