The Complete Brothers Grimm's Fairy Tales

Jacob Grimm (1785-1863) and his brother Wilhelm (1786-1859) were philologists and folklorists. The brothers rediscovered a host of fairy tales, telling of princes and princesses in their castles, witches in their towers and forests, of giants and dwarfs, of fabulous animals and dark deeds. Together with the well-known tales of "Rapunzel", "The Goose-Girl", "Sleeping Beauty", "Hansel and Gretel" and "Snow White" there are the darker tales such as "Death's Messengers" which deserve to be better known, and which will appeal not only to all who are interested in the history of folklore, but also to all those who simply love good storytelling. The two brothers wished to preserve their German folklore in a collection of tales that they believed had been handed down for generations. When they began in 1812 they had just 86 stories that rather harshly reflected the difficult life of European peasantry. Subsequent editions would grow to hold over 200 tales. As time passed, the Brothers Grimm found that their collection of fairy tales, with all of its royalty, magical creatures, and brave adventures, entranced those who read them. This compilation of fairy tales which includes the complete canon of over 200 tales has become a beloved set of classical stories the world over.

The Brothers Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), were German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together specialized in collecting and publishing traditional folklore during the 19th century. They are perhaps best known for their collection 'Grimm's Fairy Tales', originally titled 'Kinder- und Hausmärchen' (1812), which has become a cornerstone of Western literature and a foundational text in the folktale canon. This tome, encompassing tales such as 'Cinderella', 'The Frog Prince', and 'Hansel and Gretel', has been translated into over 100 languages and remains a quintessential compilation of fairy tales that influence literature and culture even to this day. The brothers' work was not merely to entertain but to preserve Germanic folklore in a rapidly modernizing world. Their literary style combines the unfiltered characteristics of oral storytelling with a scholarly dedication to preservation, which sometimes evoked the dark and uncensored realities of the tales' origins. The Grimm's literary approach was pioneering, blending raw narrative with linguistic analysis, which in turn greatly contributed to the field of folklore studies and laid the groundwork for the discipline of comparative mythology and folktale classification. 'The Complete Brothers Grimm's Fairy Tales' continues to be celebrated for its rich heritage, academic significance, and the indelible imprint it has left on the fabric of childhood and storytelling across the globe.