First publication of Grimms' Fairy Tales

Background. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors whose work in folklore and literary scholarship shaped modern folkloristics. With the goal of researching a scholarly treatise on folk tales, they established a methodology for collecting and recording folk stories that became the basis for folklore studies. Wilhelm had gathered tales partly through visits to Westphalia in 1811, hearing stories from the circle of August von Haxthausen.

Publication of the First Volume. The first volume of Kinder- und Hausmärchen appeared in 1812, dated 20 December according to one account, containing 86 folk tales. The work was published in Berlin according to a bibliographic listing, though the brothers were then associated with Kassel, where Wilhelm worked at the library. The collection drew on tales gathered from the mouths of the people as well as from manuscripts and books.

Scholarly Character and Aftermath. The collection was a research undertaking rather than a children's book: the brothers aimed at a scholarly treatise on folk tales, and their methodology became foundational for folklore studies. The first edition's second volume, with 70 further tales numbered consecutively, followed in 1815 (dated 1815 on the title page but published late in 1814), completing the annotated Large edition's first instalment of 156 tales.