A Brill Calendar: September 20

Few brothers were closer to one another than Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.

Jacob Ludwig Carl (Hanau, Hesse-Kassel, January 4 1785 – Berlin, September 20 1863) the first-born of a family of six survived his one year younger brother Wilhelm Carl (Hanau, February 24, 1786 – Berlin, December 16 1859) by almost four years. They must have been lonesome ones for the scholar, who remained a bachelor. When their ‘Kinder and Hausmärchen’ collection had been completed in 1822, they still had a scholarly career of some forty years in stock for them. And after 1822, historical linguistics, German philology and what is presently termed ‘culture studies’ would never be the same. Together they earned for middle European – and particularly Prussian – learning and scholarship, a transatlantic prestige.

Both great ‘networkers’ and tireless correspondents, they kept in contact with contemporary protagonists like the jurist Savigny, the historian Michelet and the philologist Kemble. It is seldom that a tandem was so perfectly timed to the other half. Jacob, in terms of physical health the stronger one, delighted in touring European Academia, collecting honorary memberships for his brother and himself with gusto, while Wilhelm supervised the smooth running of the Berlin operation. The couple set an example for the next generation; and to generations to come; to begin with Wilhelm’s son first-born, the literary and art historian Hermann Grimm (1828-1901).

The concept, notion and term ‘Bildung’ has never become susceptible to a comprehensive translation in another language. It is at least a fine testimonial to the originality of two brothers who endowed posterity with the ageless ‘fairy tales’.