200th Birth Anniversary of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

This interesting maxicard given to me by Maria commemorates the 200^th Birth Anniversary of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm known as The Grimm Brothers were born at Hanau in Hasse-Kassel, Germany. Jacob Grimm the second son, was born on January 4, 1785 and Wilhelm Grimm the third son, was born on February 24, 1786. The Grimms were a large family of nine children, eight boys and one girl. Their father was a lawyer and after his death they set out to Kassel to attend law school and to follow in their father’s footsteps. 

The Grimms had been collecting fairy tales from the people of Hesse since the early 1800’s. They had a favourite local storyteller named Marie Muller.

In 1812, the Grimm Brothers published their first volume of eighty-six stories and tales. In 1814 the second volume contained seventy stories. The stories were a success and the brothers were recognized for their work in 1819 with honorary doctorates from Marburg University. 

The most beautiful fairytales of the Grimm Brothers as far as I can recollect, were Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, Snow-white, Rumpelstiltskin, Tom Thumb, and the list goes on and on. But, the stories I have mentioned here are the really well known ones in the English speaking nations of the world. I was lucky to have a Dad who was a great story-teller and introduced us siblings to the fabulous fairy tale world of the Grimm Brothers. 

In 1838 they began the work on the thirty-two volumes of a German dictionary, which focuses on history. Within the next ten years the Grimms resigned from their teaching at the university of Berlin and devoted their time to the completion of the dictionary. The Grimms did not live to see the final edition of their German dictionary, which took almost a hundred years to complete.

Wilhelm Grimm died on December 16, 1859 and Jacob Grimm on September 20, 1863.