The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales

Filed under Children's Book History, Nursery Rhymes

Children’s and Household Tales (German: Kinder-und Hausmärchen) is a collection of German-origin fairy tales first published in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the Brothers Grimm. The collection is commonly known today as Grimm’s Fairy Tales (German: Grimms Märchen).

There are over 200 tales, and although I collect vintage children’s books and have many illustrations, I’ll probably limit myself to about a dozen tales.

The large image at left is from the Parrish Castles collage sheet.

Supplies for Almost Any Fairy Tale
(or a mix of Grimm tales)

The images at right are from the Grimm Covers #1 and Fairy Tale Titles collage sheets.

Sleeping Beauty
(Little Briar-Rose)

When Sleeping Beauty was a baby, she was cursed by a fairy to fall into a deep sleep of a hundred years if she should ever prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. The King then ordered all spinning wheels to be burned. However, when Sleeping Beauty was fifteen or sixteen, she found a room in the castle with an old woman using a spinning wheel…

The large image at right is from the Sleeping Beauty #1 collage sheet.

Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes…

Rumpelstiltskin, etc.

Cinderella
(Aschenputtel)

Cinderella (French: Cendrillon) is a popular fairy tale embodying a classic folk tale theme of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. The German versus French versions vary in certain details (like the clothes for the Ball in the French version being provided by the fairy-godmother, instead of by the birds that Cinderella had befriended in the German version).

The large image at left is from the The Ball #1 collage sheet.

Snow White
(Schneewittchen)

“Snow White” features such elements as the magic mirror, the poisoned apple, the glass coffin, matricide, filicide, and the characters of the Evil Queen (Snow White’s evil stepmother), the huntsman, a beautiful princess named Snow White in a sleeping enchantment, a handsome prince and the Seven Dwarfs (the dwarves were unnamed in the original story). More info.

The large image at right is from the Poison Apple collage sheet.

Little Red Riding Hood
or Little Red-Cap (Rotkäppchen)

Little Red Riding Hood is about a young girl’s encounter with a wolf. The story has changed a lot in its history, and been subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings. The tale makes a clear contrast between the safe world of the village and the dangers of the forest, and is also a strong morality tale, teaching children not to “wander off the path.”

The image at left is from the Red Riding Hood #2 collage sheet.

All the Tales about Ravens

The Seven Ravens, The Twelve Brothers, etc.

The images at left are from the Crows #1 collage sheet.

Fairies

The images at left are from the Fairy-Godmother and Storybook Fairies collage sheets.