Household Stories is the English title of the Children's and Household Tales of the Brothers Grimm, first published in German in 1812 and 1815. The collection gathers some two hundred folk tales, among them Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood.
The collection
The brothers began collecting tales in 1806 from people they knew in Kassel and from written sources, at first to help their friend the poet Clemens Brentano, who never used them.
The first volume of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, with eighty-six tales, appeared at Christmas 1812, and a second in 1815. Seven editions of the full collection followed until 1857, each revised by Wilhelm.
From scholars to children
The first edition, with scholarly notes, was not intended for children, and readers found some tales too rough. Wilhelm gradually smoothed the style, added Christian touches and removed allusions to sex, while keeping much of the violence.
A shorter 'small edition' of fifty tales, first published in 1825, made the collection a family book.
In English
Edgar Taylor's selection, German Popular Stories (1823), illustrated by George Cruikshank, introduced the tales to English readers. Lucy Crane's translation, Household Stories (1882), with drawings by her brother Walter Crane, became a classic edition.
The tales have since been translated into more than a hundred languages and adapted endlessly, notably by Walt Disney, whose Snow White (1937) was his first feature film.
Anecdotes
Snow White's mother
In the first edition of 1812, it is Snow White's own mother who is jealous of her beauty and wants her dead. From 1819 the brothers made her a stepmother.
Memory of the world
The Grimms' annotated copies of the tales, kept in Kassel, were added to UNESCO's Memory of the World register in 2005.
Frequently asked questions
How many tales did the Grimms publish?
210 in the last edition of 1857: 200 numbered tales and 10 'children's legends'.
Who translated Household Stories?
Lucy Crane, in 1882, with illustrations by Walter Crane.
Did the Grimms change the tales?
Yes. Wilhelm Grimm rewrote them over successive editions, making them more literary and suitable for children.