Complete Fairy Tales

Jacob Grimm (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859) were born in Hanau, Germany. They published the first of their many collections of fairy tales in 1812. The story that they wandered about Germany collecting their tales from the lips of peasants is a fairy tale itself. In fact, they invited educated middle class women into their home to tell them the stories they had heard from their servants. The point of their collection of folklore was to study the German language and they also did important work on the German dictionary. The stories were revised to be more appropriate for children in 1819 and were published under the title Children's and Household Tales. By the beginning of the twentieth century Children's and Household Tales was second only to the Bible in the German bestseller lists.

"It is hardly too much to say that these tales rank next to the Bible in importance" -- W.H. Auden "The stories, and the figures themselves, have immense vitality, partly because no punches are pulled, and also because no emotion is unrepresented" -- Margaret Atwood "Everyone should possess and know Grimm's Fairy Tales - one of the great books of the world" -- Richard Adams New York Times Book Review "Clearly the text of choice for any reader...Zipes' edition deserves to become the standard translation" -- German Quarterly "The Brother's Grimm were responsible for these fairytales that informed my life and made it as interesting, or as confused, or as wondrous as it is...they scared the shit out of me when I was a kid and they also gave me some of the most pleasure in life" -- Terry Gilliam