Brothers Grimm. The Brothers Grimm, Jacob Ludwig Karl and Wilhelm Carl, were German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers and authors who together collected and published folklore during the 19th century.
They were among the first and best-known collectors of German and European folk tales, and popularized traditional oral tale types such as Cinderella, The Frog Prince, The Goose-Girl, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White. Their classic collection, Children's and Household Tales, was published in two volumes, the first in 1812 and the second in 1815.
The brothers were born in the town of Hanau in Hesse-Cassel and spent most of their childhood in the nearby town of Steinau. Their father's death in 1796 impoverished the family and affected the brothers for many years after.
They attended the University of Marburg where they began a lifelong dedication to researching the early history of German language and literature, including German folktales. The rise of Romanticism during the 18th century had revived interest in traditional folk stories, which to the Grimms and their colleagues represented a pure form of national literature and culture.
The Brothers Grimm established a methodology for collecting and recording folk stories that became the basis for folklore studies. Between the first edition of 1812-1815 and the seventh edition