Around the Web: The Brothers Grimm Did Much More Than Tell Fairy Tales

One of the lost works discovered in AMU's University Library with annotations from the Brothers Grimm
Adam Mickiewicz University

The Brothers Grimm Did Much More Than Tell Fairy Tales by Aaron Boorstein at Smithsonian Magazine (May 31, 2024)

"A recent discovery in a Polish library of 27 books that were thought to have been lost sheds light on the breadth of the German scholars’ work."

It's not a lengthy article, but here's a bit to whet your interest:

To aid their research on folklore and linguistics, the brothers looked to their private library of 8,000 books. Today, most of these books reside in a library in Berlin after Wilhelm’s son, Hermann, transferred them there, according to Adam Mickiewicz University's (AMU) Ewa Konarzewska-Michalak. Others were scattered and lost over the decades.

Last year, however 27 works from the Brothers Grimm's private collection were found in AMU’s library in Poznań, Poland. The works, dating from the 1400s through the second half of the 1800s, fit into three categories: incunables, prints and books, Artnet's Vittoria Benzine reports. According to AMU curator Renata Wilgosiewicz-Skutecka, the librarians were able to identify them thanks to handwritten notes by the Grimms. These inscriptions also gave insight into the Grimms’ working method and choices of themes and motifs in their work.

The best news, after the actual discovery, is that the books are being digitized. Yay for librarians and researchers! And, yes, I do have a degree in Information (Library) Science so I greatly appreciate their work.