In 1894 he moved to the Nietzsche Archive, which Friedrich Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche had just founded in Naumburg an der Saale. This led to a dispute with Rudolf Steiner, who probably also had ambitions for the publication of Nietzsche. After only a few months, Hellen left once again the Nietzsche archive.
In 1900 he moved to Stuttgart. There he was until 1923 literary adviser of the Cotta publishing house. Von der Hellen was the main editor of the 40-volume jubilee edition of Goethe's works, which appeared in the years 1902 to 1912, as well as the sixteen-volume secular edition of Schiller's works in the years 1904 and 1905.
He died in 1927 in Stuttgart.
Works
As author
Goethes Anteil an Lavaters physiognomischen Fragmenten
Wilhelm I. und Bismarck in ihrem Briefwechsel
Heinrich von Plate. Der Roman eines Privilegierten, Stuttgart und Berlin 1921
As editor
Das Journal von Tiefurt, in: Schriften der Goethe-Gesellschaft, von Bernhard Suphan (ed.), 7. Band, Weimar 1892
Fürst Bismarcks Briefe an seine Braut und Gattin, Stuttgart 1912