The Grimms' Small Edition intended for children contained 50 tales.
The brothers published the Kleine Ausgabe, or “Small Edition,” in 1825 as a shorter, more accessible selection from Kinder- und Hausmärchen. It was designed for child readers rather than for the fuller scholarly and literary audience of the Large Edition.
The Small Edition was not simply the first volume cut in half. It was a carefully selected children’s book, and its illustrations were made by the brothers’ younger sibling Ludwig Emil Grimm. Its format helped the collection reach families and young readers beyond the original academic and folkloric context.
The number is easy to confuse with other Grimm figures. The first volume of the 1812 collection had 86 tales, the second volume added 70, and later editions expanded the total substantially. Those numbers refer to larger editions or individual volumes, not the 1825 children’s selection.