Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm

Born: 4 January 1785 (Jacob) and 24 February 1786 (Wilhelm) Birthplace: Hanau, Germany Died: 20 September 1863 (Jacob) and 16 December 1859 (Wilhelm) Best Known As: Authors of Grimm's Fairy Tales

Jacob Ludwig Grimm and Wilhelm Karl Grimm were born on february 4, 1785, and February 24, 1786, respectively, in Hanau near Frankfurt in Hessen. They were among a family of nine children, only six of whom survived infancy.[2] Their early childhood was spent in the countryside in what has been described as an "idyllic" state. The Grimm family lived near the magistrates' house between 1790 and 1796 while the father was employed by the Prince of Hessen.

When the eldest brother Jacob was eleven years old their father, Philip Wilhelm, died and the family moved into a cramped urban residence. Two years later, the children's grandfather also died, leaving them and their mother to struggle in reduced circumstances.

The two brothers were educated at the Friedrichs-Gymnasium in Kassel and later both read law at the University of Marburg. It was the inspiration of Friedrich von Savigny there, who awakened in them an interest in the past. They were in their early twenties when they began the linguistic and philological studies that would culminate in both Grimm's Law and their collected editions of fairy and folk tales. Though their collections of tales became immensely popular, they were essentially a by-product of the linguistic research which was the Brothers' primary goal.

In 1808, Jakob was named court librarian to the King of Westphalia, and in 1812 the Grimm brothers published their first volume of fairy tales, Tales of Children and the Home.

In 1837, the Brothers Grimm joined five of their colleague professors at the University of Göttingen to protest against the abolition of the liberal constitution of the state of Hanover by King Ernest Augustus I, a reactionary son of King George III .

Graves of the Brothers Grimm in the St Matthaus Kirchhof Cemetery in Schöneberg, Berlin.

In 1812, the Brothers published a collection of 86 German fairy tales in a volume titled Kinder- und Hausmärchen ("Children's and Household Tales"). They published a second volume of 70 fairy tales in 1814 ("1815" on the title page), which together make up the first edition of the collection, containing 156 stories.

Wilhelm died in Berlin on December 16, 1859, while Jakob continued work on the dictionary and related projects until his death in Berlin on September 20, 1863. The brothers are buried in the St. Matthäus Kirchhof Cemetery in Schöneberg, Berlin.

Children's and Household Tales in 1812 Snow-White and Rose-Red The Frog Prince’ Rapunzel’, ‘ Little Red Riding Hood’