Grimm, J.L.C. and W.C.

12mo (124 x 99mm., 126 x 96mm.), 2 volumes, second, but first illustrated edition, vol. 1: LVI, 439pp., errata page; vol. 2: LXXI, errata page, 304pp., engraved frontispiece and title by Ludwig Emil Grimm to second volume, original olive green cloth, many leaves torn with significant or minor loss, some leaves torn or crudely repaired with adhesive tape, some leaves shaved, some soiling and staining, bindings worn, volume one disbound, lacking both plates, numerous leaves dog-eared, loose leaves at end, volume two with loose leaves (full condition report available on sothebys.com)

A significant association copy, presented to Anna von Arnswaldt by Wilhelm Grimm.



The stories known today as Grimm's Fairy Tales were collected by the philologists and pioneer folklorists Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Growing up in a Germany occupied by the French, patriotic fervour led them to pursue a quest for their nation's linguistic heritage. They began collecting folk tales around 1806. Their work was not intended to be for children, but simply to document the stories of children. By 1810 they had produced a significant manuscript collection of tales. In 1812, the brothers published the first volume of 86 German fairy tales with the title Kinder- und Hausmärchen ("Children's and Household Tales"). A second volume of 70 tales appeared in 1814 (postdated "1815" on the title page), which together make up the first edition of the collection, containing 156 stories.



The Grimms had a pedagogical purpose, their work was intended to become a "manual of education," but the problematic content (violence and horror, for example) and awkward narrative style of certain texts, limited its appeal and very few of the edition of 900 copies of the first volume were sold. Wilhelm exerted a stronger editorial hand in the second volume, and stories were selected with a more artful shape, to present a more appealing text. Yet the second volume sold as poorly as the first. The second edition appeared in 1819, rewritten and adapted for children.

Note in previous owner's hand "Anna von Arnswaldt geb. von Haxthausen | vom lieben Wilhelm Grimm | geschenkt bekommen" [translation: 'presented by the dear Wilhelm Grimm as a present']. Anna von Arnswaldt was married to the German writer August von Haxthausen who was well acquainted with the Grimm brothers

Wegehaupt I, Alte deutsche Kinderbücher, cf. 828-829; Osborne (1975) II, p. 600; Paul Schroers, "Die erste Ausgabe der Grimmschen Märchen" Philobiblon 9 (1965), pp. 263-269; see B. Hürlimann, 'Three Centuries of Children's Books in Europe' (1967), pp. 31-36; Siegfried Neumann, "The Brothers Grimm as Collectors and Editors of German Folktales," The Reception of Grimms' Fairy Tales, Donald Haase, ed. (1993), pp. 24-34

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
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