Which two brothers edited the collection known in English as Grimm’s Fairy Tales?

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm edited the collection known in English as Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

The brothers were German scholars, librarians, philologists, and cultural researchers. Jacob Grimm was born in 1785, and Wilhelm Grimm in 1786. They worked closely together on language, literature, folklore, and the history of Germanic traditions.

Their Kinder- und Hausmärchen collection first appeared in 1812, with a second volume following in 1815. The brothers collected stories through interviews, correspondence, and written sources, then revised the material for publication. They were editors and arrangers of the tales, not necessarily the original creators of every story.

Jacob and Wilhelm are also associated with major scholarly projects beyond folklore, including the German Dictionary, begun in 1838. Because many tales existed in several forms before the Grimms printed them, calling every story simply a “Grimm original” is inaccurate. Their lasting contribution was collecting, shaping, and publishing a large body of traditional material.