Grimms’ Fairy Tales eBook

Adobe PDF	Android	AudioBook	ePub
iBook	Kindle	Plain Text	Podcast

• Author -Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• Illustrator -Philipp Grot Johann
• Genre -Fairy Tales/Folklore
• Date -1812

The Grimm’s Fairy Tales is arguably one of the most famous collection of German tales in the world. It was first published in 1812 by the Grimm brothers Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm. The collection was originally titled “Children’s and Household Tales” but is more commonly known as Grimm’s fairy tales.

History

The first volume of the first edition of the Grimm’s fairy tales was published in 1812, bags and it contained 86 stories and was later followed in 1815 by the second volume consisting of 70 stories. All in all the total number of editions or volumes grew to seven by the year 1857. Each and every edition was extensively illustrated. It was first illustrated by Philip Grot Johann, and after Philipp Johann died in 1892 the illustrations were done not by German illustrator Robert Leinweber.

Criticism and Controversy

Throughout history especially in the olden days the first volumes of the Grimm’s fairy tales were criticized a lot, because although they were called “children’s tales”, many people did not regard them as suitable for children, because they thought that the books did not contain any scholarly information and the subject matter was not suitable for children.

The Grimm brothers had to make many changes throughout the editions, such as turning the wicked mother from the first edition in snow white to a stepmother. The same was done with the mother of Hansel and Gretel from the first edition as well. This was most probably done with an eye books suitable for children. The Grimm brothers also had to do away with sexual references such as Rapunzel asking ‘why her dress was getting tighter around her baby and press naively revealing the pregnancy and the princes visits to his stepmother’. Though they did that the way lens, particularly when punishing villains was increased throughout the editions.

Influence of the Tales around the Globe

The Grimm’s fairy tales has succeeded in influencing a great number of people around the globe, W. H. Auden praised the collection during World War II saying that it was one of the founding works of Western culture. Writers where Britain about the Holocaust have also combined these tales these tales with their memoirs for example as Jane Yolen did in her memoirs titled Briar Rose. Thus showing the influence that these teams had on them.

The work of the Brothers Grimm also influenced collectors inspiring them to collect tales and a leading them to believe that the fairytales of a country were very particularly representative of the countries culture and folklore. Among those influenced were Russian Alexander Afanasyev, Norwegian Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, along with English writers such as Joseph Jacobs and Jeremiah Curtin.

Popular Titles in the Series

Some of the popular titles in the series include

• Rapunzel.
• Hansen and Gretel.
• Cinderella.
• Little Brair-Rose.
• Rumpelstiltskin etc.