Kinder- und Hausmärchen der Brüder Grimm

by Friedrich Panzer

563 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2007

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this here tome is actually a reprint of Friedrich Panzer's 1913 publication of the first edition of the fairy tale collection of the Brothers Grimm (from 1812/1813). And although Panzer’s introduction and his analyses are of course and naturally massively dated and definitely of their time, the real find, the real treasures here are the fairy tales themselves, as very many of them are slightly different from later Grimms' fairy tale editions (and most modern printed editions of the tales are indeed of the seventh or final edition from 1857). For example, in the 1812/1813 version of Rapunzel Rapunzel is sent into the wilderness by Mrs. Gothel (the fairy) because she is obviously pregnant, a fact that is not mentioned in the 1857 version of the tale. And in the original tale of Snow White, the heroine was pursued by her jealous mother, and only later was the jealous mother turned into an evil stepmother (mostly because the Grimms’ were getting complaints that a biological mother should not be jealous of and want kill her own daughter). And while I would probably not recommend this edition for casual reading, as even much of the language and orthography are rather old-fashioned, it is an interesting and enlightening addition to the bookshelf of anyone interested in the genesis and development of Grimms' fairy tales. It is, however, entirely penned in German, and I don't believe that there is, as yet, an English language translation of this first edition readily available.

EDITED TO ADD: Just to point out that there in fact exists now (well, actually since 2014) an official English language translation of this first edition of Grimms' Fairy Tales, namely The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (translated by none other than Jack Zipes). And as I have just become aware of this translation (and I immediately did purchase a copy online), I will only state that an English language translation of the 1812/1813 edition of the Grimms’ tales is appreciatively and fortunately now available (for since I have not yet read Jack Zipes' edition, I thus also cannot and will not make comments with regard to the quality of Zipes’ translation).