Book excerpt: GERMAN POPULAR STORIES BY THE BROTHERS GRIMM A reprint of the famous Brothers Grimm book of fairy tales, German Popular Stories (a.k.a. Children's and Household Tales or Kinder- und Hausmarchen). This book, published for the centenary of the 1812 Children's and Household Tales, 'radically changed the destiny of what we today call the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm'. The book features the 1868 book of Edgar Taylor's translations of the Brothers Grimm, the first translations of the tales into English, which included reprints of the first two editions of 1823 and 1826 of the Grimms' stories in one volume, plus the original notes by Taylor. The book is illustrated with remarkable drawings by one of the great artists of the Victorian era, George Cruikshank, with an introduction by John Ruskin. The wealth of additional material includes letters by Sir Walter Scott and the Grimms, a note on Cruikshank, extracts from Gammer Grethel, Taylor's follow-up Grimm book, and R. Meek's Introduction to the 1876 edition of Grimm's Goblins: Grimm's Household Stories. Many famous fairy tales are included here, making their first, influential appearance in English: 'The Fisherman and his Wife', 'Tom Thumb', 'The Elves and the Shoemaker', 'King Grisly-beard', 'The Juniper Tree', 'Hansel and Gretel', and 'Snow White'. Edited and introduced by renowned writer and authority on fairy tales, Jack Zipes, professor emeritus of German and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota. In addition to his scholarly work, he is an active storyteller in public schools and has worked with children's theaters in Europe and the United States. Some of Jack Zipes' major publications include Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales (1979), Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion (1983, rev. ed. 2006), Don't Bet On the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and England (1986), The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World (1988), Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children's Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter (2000), Speaking Out: Storytelling and Creative Drama For Children (2004), Hans Christian Andersen: The Misunderstood Storyteller (2005), Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre (2006), and a guide to fairy tales cinema (2011). Jack Zipes has also translated The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (1987) and edited The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales (2000), and The Great Fairy Tale Tradition (2001). Most recently he has translated and edited The Folk and Fairy Tales of Giuseppe Pitre (2008) and Lucky Hans and Other Merz Fairy Tales (2008) by Kurt Schwitters. Includes illustrations, bibliography, appendices and notes. ISBN 9781861713964. 432 pages. www.crmoon.com"