by Uwe Meves The world-famous fairy-tale collectors Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, highly renowned scholars and committed citizens, conducted an extraordinarily extensive correspondence with an extremely large circle of people, which represents a first-rate source of cultural history and the history of science. An editorial board constituted in Oldenburg in 1995, consisting of scholars from various subjects in Germany and abroad, is preparing a critical edition of this correspondence in individual volumes under the direction of the author of this essay, which is planned for around 30 volumes.

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, world-wide renowned collectors of fairy tales and acclaimed scholars a well as citiziens of great committment kept up a remarkably extensive correspondence with a great variety of personages which now constitutes a first-class historical source of both cultural and scholary interest. In 1995 an editorial team of international scholars representing a number of different disciplines and presided by the author of this article was constituted in Oldenburg. The team is currently preparing a 30-volume critical edition of this correspondence.

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's worldwide fame is closely linked to their collection of fairy tales, first published in 1812. The "Children's and Household Tales" are regarded as "the most famous, most widespread and most influential collection of fairy tales in world literature" (Heinz Rölleke). In the history of science, their names are particularly linked to the emergence and constitution of the discipline of German philology. Jacob Grimm's "German Grammar" (1819 ff.) - a grammar of all Germanic languages - was a milestone in historical and comparative linguistics. And the "German Dictionary" founded by the brothers was to develop into a century-long work on the German language: the first volume was published in 1854, and the 33-volume work was completed in 1971 with the publication of the list of sources.

With their concept of historical lexicography, they "laid the foundation for a work that ushered in a new epoch in the centuries-long history of German dictionaries and had a decisive influence on the lexicography of other European languages" (Alan Kirkness). While the older history of science began the history of German philology with the "founding fathers" Jacob and Wilhelm, Jacob also plays a special role in the more recent history of science, which unfolds the complexity of the scientific process. Jacob Grimm is regarded here more as an ingenious outsider who, without any theoretical justification for his research concept(s), constantly changed his scientific roles and never finally decided "whether he wanted to be considered a mythologist, romanticist, prehistorian, collector, philologist, grammarian or lexicographer" (Ulrich Hunger). He left behind an enormous, almost overwhelming scholarly life's work, whose wide-ranging cultural-historical approach reveals the model of (classical) antiquity studies. According to today's disciplinary differentiation, it includes works on linguistics and literary studies, ethnology, art and legal history, prehistory and early history, medieval history, religious and editorial studies and encompasses various philologies, German, English and Nordic philology as well as Romance and Medieval Latin, but also Celtic, Slavic, Baltic and Finno-Ugric philology.

The fact that the prize, which has been awarded annually since 1995 by the German Academic Exchange Service to foreign academics for outstanding work in the field of German literature and linguistics, German as a foreign language and German studies, is named after Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm was not only justified by its president, Theodor Berchem, with reference to the academic importance of the two brothers, but above all with the fact that "scientific knowledge and social responsibility were mutually related for the Grimm brothers". In 1837, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, together with five other (out of 52) Göttingen professors, signed a protest petition against the repeal of the Hanoverian Basic Law of 1833 by Ernst August II.

The seven professors were dismissed, and Jacob Grimm, the literary historian Georg Gottfried Gervinus and the historian Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann were also expelled from the country for allegedly contributing to the dissemination of the protest pamphlet. On 19 May 1848, the electors of the Essen-Mühlheim constituency elected 63-year-old Jacob Grimm to succeed Ernst Moritz Arndt as their representative in the Frankfurt National Assembly. They thus elected a "star of the first magnitude" - as the Kölnische Zeitung put it on the same day - a highly renowned scholar, an upright patriot and a public figure since 1837. In his letter of thanks to the electoral commissioner, Jacob Grimm confessed his political convictions: "I am in favour of a free, united fatherland under a powerful king ...". He spoke four times in St Paul's Church. When discussing the fundamental rights of the German people, he requested that the first article of the draft be preceded by a new first article: "The German people are a nation of free men, and German soil tolerates no servitude. It makes free the foreign unfree who dwell on it." The proposal was rejected with 192 votes in favour and 205 against. Jacob Grimm once again took the floor during the debate on fundamental rights. As a self-confident citizen, he made the following proposal in a grand speech, which was applauded by the left and the centre: "All legal differences between nobles, commoners and peasants shall cease, and no elevation shall take place either to the nobility or from a lower to a higher nobility." While Jacob Grimm had declared himself "against all republican desires" in 1848, he seems to have opened up to more radical political ideas towards the end of his life. A few years before his death, the 70-year-old wrote to the historian Waitz:

"How often must the sad fate of our fatherland come to mind and fall upon one's heart and embitter one's life. There can be no thought of salvation unless it is brought about by great dangers and upheavals... Only ruthless violence can help. The older I get, the more democratically minded I am. If I were once again in a national assembly, I would vote much more in favour of Uhland and Schoder, because forcing the constitution into the mould of existing conditions can lead to no salvation... There is something indestructible in the sciences; after every standstill, they will strike out anew and all the more vigorously."

The quoted letter also illustrates what an important source letters are for research. This is particularly true for a period in which a considerable part of the scholarly exchange of opinions and professional discussion took place in correspondence. Lothar Bluhm's recently published habilitation thesis (Die Brüder Grimm und der Beginn der Deutschen Philologie, Hildesheim 1997) demonstrates how fruitful the cataloguing of the various correspondence circles is for the early days of German philology. The Grimms' life's work as a whole was the result of close working contact and exchange of ideas with numerous important scholars (such as Georg Friedrich Benecke and Karl Lachmann), with famous literary and public figures and with contemporaries who are more or less well-known today. It would be unthinkable without the lively and extraordinary correspondence that Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm conducted with hundreds of friends and scholars far beyond German borders. The enormous extent of the Grimms' correspondence - at least 30,000 letters are estimated - and the extraordinarily large circle of correspondents have only been made accessible in recent years, since the compilation of a catalogue of letters by the Brothers Grimm, which began at the Humboldt University in 1985. By 1991, the young Berlin Germanist Berthold Friemel had already collected around 11,000 letters, which he made available to researchers in his dissertation in 1992. At the proposal of Ludwig Denecke, the Berlin linguist Ruth Reiher and the author, the DFG funded a working group of five people to continue work on the catalogue of letters from 1993 to 1998. Based on systematic research, around 22,000 letters have been catalogued so far, the originals of which are located all over the world, some of them in private ownership. Around half of these letters are still unpublished, including around 3,000 letters from the Grimms. The number of correspondents catalogued has increased to over 2,100, almost four times the number of correspondents known in 1983. It is already foreseeable that the newly discovered and previously unpublished letters will enormously expand our current knowledge of the Grimms' working methods and the genesis of their works, their scientific work as a whole and their life story. The catalogue of letters, the publication of which is planned for the year 2000/2001 by S. Hirzel-Verlag, will then also provide an indispensable and highly welcome aid for the Critical Edition of the Correspondence of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, which is currently being compiled in individual volumes. The need for a new scholarly edition of the correspondence of the Brothers Grimm arises in particular from the following aspects:

• The majority of the Grimm correspondence is still unpublished.
• The majority of available editions only contain the letters of the Brothers Grimm and do not take into account the counter-letters of the correspondents, which are just as important in terms of content.
• Most editions contain errors and gaps in the text; even omissions are often not indicated.
• The commentaries on the editions - if they exist at all - generally no longer meet today's requirements.
• A number of the older editions have also been published in places that are difficult to access.

30 scholars are working on a critical edition

The "Arbeitsgemeinschaft für die Geisteswissenschaft des 19. Jahrhunderts" (Working Group for 19th Century Humanities), founded in 1991 and largely initiated by Ludwig Denecke, the doyen of Grimm research, was particularly dedicated to preparing a critical edition of the Grimm correspondence. For financial and personal reasons, a complete edition seemed inconceivable in the foreseeable future. The considerations therefore focussed on a feasible edition model that would ensure the rapid publication of unknown or insufficiently edited letters and at the same time the creation of editions with long-term validity. Under the given conditions, the only option was to critically edit parts of the correspondence in individual volumes, limited to individual persons, groups of persons and subject contexts, at various locations where expertise and resources allowed. In 1994, the above-mentioned working group asked me to make contact with those involved in the planned edition of the letters in order to initiate steps towards better coordination of the work and to invite them to participate in an independent editorial board. The positive response to my initiative led to the constitution of an editorial board in Oldenburg in May 1995 as a discussion committee open to all contributors interested in the Brief edition. Its tasks include the regular exchange of information on the status of the work (workshop reports) at the annual colloquia, the discussion and creation of largely binding agreements (e.g. the editorial guidelines), the organisation of desired assistance for the completion of individual editions (e.g. proofreaders, proofreading) or suggestions for new contributors. The meeting elected me as spokesperson for the editorial board and Dr Ingrid Pergande-Kaufmann, research associate on the DFG-funded project Briefverzeichnis der Brüder Grimm, as working secretary. The Office was located at the Humboldt University, as the academic apparatus and facilities available there (Grimm estate, Grimm library) offered the most favourable environment. After a difficult process of finalising the extensive editorial guidelines, the colloquia in Oldenburg (1995, 1996), Berlin (1997) and Jena (1998) focused on workshop reports on individual correspondence, which were presented by such renowned Grimm researchers as Heinz Rölleke (Wuppertal) and Alan Kirkness (Auckland). In 1999, the conference will take place at the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Göttingen, a city of particular importance in the life and work of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The editorial board now includes over 30 scholars from Germany and abroad, mainly from the sub-disciplines of German studies, but also from Romance and Nordic studies, Protestant theology, sports science and mathematics. All of the approximately 30 volumes of the correspondence edition will be published by S. Hirzel-Verlag (Stuttgart/Leipzig), which already published the Grimm German Dictionary. The publication of the first volume is expected in the year 2000.

Jacob Grimm / Wilhelm Grimm

1785: 4 January, Jacob born in Hanau

1786: 24 February, Wilhelm born in Hanau

1791: The family moves to Steinau

1798: To attend school in Kassel

1802: Jacob begins studying law in Marburg

1803: Wilhelm also studies law in Marburg

1805: Jacob travels to Paris with Savigny

1806: Jacob becomes secretary at the Hessian College of War

1808: Jacob becomes librarian to the King of Westphalia in Kassel

1811: The first books: Jacob On the Old German Master Song; Wilhelm Old Danish Heroic Songs

1812: Joint works: Hildebrandslied and Wessobrunner Gebet, 1st volume of the Children's and Household Tales

1814: Wilhelm becomes librarian secretary in Kassel

1814/15: Travels to Paris, attends the Congress of Vienna

1815: 2nd volume of the Children's and Household Tales

1816: 1st volume of the German Legends

1818: 2nd volume of the German Legends

1819: Jacob: 1st volume of German Grammar (Theory of Forms) / Honorary doctorate (phil.) for Jacob and Wilhelm from the University of Marburg

1822: 3rd volume of the Children's and Household Tales

1825: Wilhelm marries Dorothea Wild

1826: Jacob: 2nd volume of German Grammar

1828: Jacob: Deutsche Rechtsaltertümer; Jacob receives an honorary doctorate (iur.) from the University of Berlin

1829: Wilhelm: Deutsche Heldensage; Jacob receives honorary doctorate (iur.) from the University of Breslau

1830: Jacob librarian and full professor, Wilhelm sub-librarian in Göttingen

1831: Wilhelm: Appointment as associate professor / Jacob: 3rd volume of German Grammar (word formation)

1834: Jacob: Reinhart Fuchs; Wilhelm: Freidank

1835: Jacob: German Mythology, Tacitus:Germania / Wilhelm becomes full professor in Göttingen

1836: Wilhelm: Rosengarten

1837: 18 November, protest by the Göttingen Seven: Jacob and Wilhelm are dismissed from office, Jacob expelled from the country, back to Kassel

1838: Jacob: Uber seine Entlassung; Latin poems of the X and XI centuries; Wilhelm: Rolandslied . Century; Wilhelm: Song of Roland

1840: Jacob: 1st and 2nd volume of the Weistümer; Wilhelm: Konrad von Würzburg, Goldene Schmiede

1841: Jacob and Wilhelm are appointed full members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences; teaching at Berlin University until 1848/1852

1842: Jacob: 3rd volume of the Weistümer

1843/44: Jacob travels to Italy, Denmark and Sweden

1846: Jacob chairs the first assembly of Germanists in Frankfurt/a.M

1848: Jacob is a member of parliament in Frankfurt's Paulskirche; Jacob: History of the German language 1854: German dictionary, vol. 1

1859: 16 December, death of Wilhelm Grimm

1860: German dictionary, vol. 2

1862: German dictionary, vol. 3

1863: 4th volume of the Weistümer; 20 September, death of Jacob Grimm

Ludwig Uhland to Wilhelm Grimm

Tübingen, 28 November 1839

Dearest Sir!

To your earlier valuable gifts, you have added a new one in the poems of Wernher of the Lower Rhine, for which, as for those, I am grateful to you from the bottom of my heart. In this way, this linguistic area is also becoming more and more revitalised with traces of former poetic activity.

When I consider how the study of German prehistory, as far back as I can remember, has become so completely different, what has since been done and is still being done for the opening up and clarification of the sources, for the exploration of the language and for the correct understanding of antiquities of all kinds, then a future generation, to whom the fruits of all this work are already spread out, should seem to me to be a very favoured one. However, many views that were still available to our time will then be lost; the old buildings, even if they do not deteriorate in themselves, nevertheless give way more and more to the demands of the present, and so it is with dialects and traditions, legends and songs, customs and traditions. In addition, however, it is precisely this independent work with limited means, this gradual discovery of a barely imagined wealth, that has its own peculiar charm, and I have no doubt that the fresh pleasure of your first fraternal research together is not merely a fond memory, but that it is the living seed from which you both gained and continue to gain strength and perseverance for your subsequent arduous and comprehensive endeavours. For the purpose of a work on our old folk songs, of which I will add a collection as far as my means allow, I take the liberty of asking: where is the unpublished master song about Brennberger's journey to the Queen of France, of which you gave an excerpt in the German Sagas II, 207? I have not been able to find any trace of this song, which would be of interest to me, anywhere else, while various old prints of the other song, from which you share the second saga on p. 211, have become accessible to me. Commending myself to you and your honoured brother with the most sincere devotion

L. Uhland.

Wilhelm Grimm to Ludwig Uhland

Kassel, 3 December 1839

It is with pleasure that I send you, most honoured sir, the master song of Brennberger's journey to France, which is the basis of the extract in our sagas; my brother had taken a copy of it himself in Dresden, admittedly a long time ago under Napoleon's rule at that time, as you note, these studies were still surrounded by the freshness and charm of the first beginning, but progress has brought other advantages, including the reassurance that this direction cannot perish again. it is a pleasing sign that Haupt is already beginning at this stage with Erec; but how much still lies ahead of us is shown by the fact that such an excellent poem has remained unknown until now. i need not say that i recognise the full value of what you have done in the meantime, especially your intellectually enlivened investigations into Thor. I look forward to the collection of folk songs all the more, since it seems that Meusebach will not decide to edit and publish his collection.

My brother is reworking the first volume of his grammar, or rather he is producing a new work, for in the eleven volumes printed so far not a single line of the earlier one has remained. a volume of wisdoms and an Anglo-Saxon poem will be ready in a short time. i have prepared a critical edition of the golden forge with an introduction for printing, and it will probably appear at easter.

The preparatory work on the German dictionary is progressing well, and I can already count almost 60 contributors who are helping us with the excerpts. I don't want to be intrusive, but if it were possible for you to do something for this work, which in its idea is a general patriotic work, or to win one or the other of your acquaintances for it, I would gratefully acknowledge that. i would be happy to give you more details about the direction.

As we both, my brother and I, commend ourselves to your friendly memory, I remain in

heartfelt admiration

Wilh. Grimm.

The author

Prof Dr Uwe Meves (55), university lecturer for older German language and literature, studied German, history and social sciences at the universities of Marburg, Erlangen-Nuremberg and Zurich. After completing his first State Examination for the higher teaching profession, he became a research assistant at the University of Trier in 1974. In 1976/77 he completed his traineeship, and from 1981 he became a university assistant in Trier. In 1987 he was appointed to the University of Oldenburg. In 1991/92 he was awarded a visiting professorship at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Meves has published numerous articles on the literature of the Hohenstaufen period in the context of social and cultural history, on the reception of Old German literature in the 19th and 20th centuries and on the academic history of German studies.