The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales

Grimms Fairy Tales is a collection of fairy tales first published in 1812 by the Grimm brothers Jacob and Wilhelm. The collection is commonly known in English as Grimms Fairy Tales. The first volume of the first edition was published in 1812 containing 86 stories; the second volume of 70 stories followed in 1815. For the second edition two volumes were issued in 1819 and a third in 1822 totalling 170 tales. The third edition appeared in 1837; fourth edition 1840; fifth edition 1843; sixth edition 1850; seventh edition 1857. Stories were added and also subtracted from one edition to the next until the seventh held 211 tales. All editions were extensively illustrated first by Philipp Grot Johann and after his death in 1892 by German illustrator Robert Leinweber. The first volumes were much criticized because although they were called Childrens Tales they were not regarded as suitable for children both for the scholarly information included and the subject matter.Many changes through the editions - such as turning the wicked mother of the first edition in Snow White and Hansel and Gretel (shown in original Grimm stories as Hänsel and Grethel) to a stepmother were probably made with an eye to such suitability. They removed sexual references-such as Rapunzels innocently asking why her dress was getting tight around her belly and thus naively revealing to the fairy her pregnancy and the princes visits-but in many respects violence particularly when punishing villains was increased.