The Collection
The Brothers Grimm & German Fairy Tales
Course 1 · Chapter 4 · The Collection: Children's and Household Tales
The usual picture is of two scholars travelling the countryside and writing down tales from old peasant women. Research since the twentieth century has complicated that picture a good deal. This chapter looks at how the collection was actually made, who the tellers were, what the first edition looked like and how the book grew through seven large editions. It is a chapter about evidence, so it flags more than usual as "check". Names, dates and numbers are from general knowledge.
How the Collection Was Made
- Starting out. The brothers began collecting around 1806 to 1810 (check), partly at the encouragement of Brentano, who wanted material for his own projects.
- Asking friends. Much of the material came from people the brothers knew, who told the tales in Kassel or sent them in writing (check the proportion).
- Printed sources. Some tales came from books, including earlier collections and literary works, and were adapted (check examples).
- Writing down. The brothers recorded tales from memory or from notes, not with any means of exact recording, so the wording was never a word-for-word transcript.
- The first volume. It appeared in 1812 with around 86 tales, and a second volume followed in 1815 (check the counts).
The Tellers
The Wild family
The family of Dortchen Wild, whom Wilhelm later married, lived in Kassel and passed on many tales, including some of the best known (check which). Dortchen herself and her sisters were important informants.
The Hassenpflug family
Another Kassel family of educated background with French-speaking roots, associated with several tales (check). This is part of why the idea of a purely German peasant source is questioned.
Dorothea Viehmann
A woman from a village near Kassel, described in the preface to the second volume as a source for many tales, often pictured as the typical peasant storyteller (check). Later research suggests her background was more varied and her sources partly literate (check).
The Editions
| Edition (check each) | What it was like |
|---|---|
| 1812 and 1815 (first edition) | Two volumes with scholarly notes, intended for a readership of adults and scholars, and not illustrated. |
| 1819 (second edition) | A revised and enlarged edition, with more tales and changes to the text. |
| 1825 (the "Small Edition") | A shorter selection with illustrations by Ludwig Emil Grimm, aimed at a general and younger readership and a commercial success. |
| Later editions to 1857 | Seven large editions in all, with the number of tales rising to about 200 plus others in an appendix, and with Wilhelm's continual revision. |
- Notes. The scholarly annotations on sources were published separately in later years, and give valuable evidence about origins (check).
- The title. Kinder- und Hausmärchen points to children and the household as the setting for the tales, which was partly an editorial choice (Chapter 5).
- The reception. Early reviews included criticism that the first edition was unsuitable for children, which led to changes (check).
Exercises
Describe the traditional picture of how the tales were collected and list three points where modern research challenges it.
Compare the 1812 to 1815 edition with the 1825 Small Edition: readers, content, appearance and purpose.
Explain why an informant's educational and family background matters when judging whether a tale is "folk" material, with one example.
Quick Reference
- Editions: 1812 and 1815; 1819; the 1825 Small Edition; seven large editions to 1857 (check)
- Tellers: the Wild and Hassenpflug families; Dorothea Viehmann (check)
- The revision: the old peasant picture gave way to educated, partly French-speaking informants and printed sources
- The method: ask of each tale who told it, in what year and in which edition
- The caution: the brothers' prefaces are evidence, but they also presented a particular image