The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm

allows those without German expertise a chance to re-experience familiar stories in all their original Hemingwayesque terseness.'-Michael Dirda, Washington Post he Grimms are spare, spinning the tales into beautifully wrought short stories.'-Francesca Wade, Times Literary Supplement

' faithful translation-accompanied by striking black-and-white illustrations, evocative of shadow theatre, by Andrea Dezsö.

The book is a classic, formed like a mosaic of precious small pieces, each one glinting with its own color and character, glass and crystalline, but somehow hard, unyielding.'-Marina Warner, New York Review of Books 'This collection contains many of the most-loved fairy tales in the history of the form. Zipes’s introduction gives important historical context, and the book includes the Grimms’ prefaces and notes.Ī delight to read, The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm presents these peerless stories to a whole new generation of readers. Indeed, this is what makes the tales from the 18 editions unique-they reflect diverse voices, rooted in oral traditions, that are absent from the Grimms’ later, more embellished collections of tales. Esteemed fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes offers accessible translations that retain the spare description and engaging storytelling style of the originals. These narrative gems, newly translated and brought together in one beautiful book, are accompanied by sumptuous new illustrations from award-winning artist Andrea Dezsö.įrom “The Frog King” to “The Golden Key,” wondrous worlds unfold-heroes and heroines are rewarded, weaker animals triumph over the strong, and simple bumpkins prove themselves not so simple after all. For the very first time, The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm makes available in English all 156 stories from the 18 editions.

Yet few people today are familiar with the majority of tales from the two early volumes, since in the next four decades the Grimms would publish six other editions, each extensively revised in content and style. When Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published their Children’s and Household Tales in 1812, followed by a second volume in 1815, they had no idea that such stories as “Rapunzel,” “Hansel and Gretel,” and “Cinderella” would become the most celebrated in the world.

The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm