Imagine a world without story book illustrations. Our childhoods might have been a bit boring. The pictures bring the words to life. They inspire, educate and keep little minds engaged. Children’s book illustrations have evolved a lot over the years. They took off in the 19th century, when children’s literature became a genre of its own.
Back then, the pictures were first carved into wooden blocks. And those were then transferred onto the pages of the book. Sometimes they were coloured in by hand, adding even more "life" to the stories.
It was during this time that the Grimms’ Fairy Tales were brought to life. Childhood classics like “Cinderella”, “Hansel and Gretel” and "Snow White" remain popular more than 200 years later. They're still being translated into different languages, and adapted into plays and films around the world.
Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm published the first set of stories in 1812. You might be surprised to know that they weren't actually written for children. According to the National Library of Scotland, 'Kinder- und Hausmärchen', as the first volume was originally called, was aimed more at scholars. It contained 86 fairy tales.
The Grimms started collecting fairy tales "in the hope of discovering some essential truths about the cultural heritage of the common people," reads the library's site. They later edited the stories to make them more child friendly. And thanks to the brothers, we saw the emergence of children's literature. The collection has since been translated into more than 160 languages.
The original Grimm Brothers' books were meant to teach important morals about life and contained common themes about family and society structures during that time. The lessons were often told through exaggerated portrayals of beauty, violence, poverty and wealth. Which is why some of the adaptations have done away with negative stereotypes and outdated ideas about what is wrong and what is right.
"The mothers, step mothers and women in general are often greedy and willing to do heinous things to achieve wealth and beauty," reads this 2016 research paper titled The Grimm Fairy Tales: An Analysis of Family and Society. "The fathers, although they mean well for their family, are very weak and submissive and thus make mistakes that often have grave consequences. As a result of the conflicts from the parental figures, the children are always the ones who suffer.”
The 19th century also brought us the whimsical tale of “Alice in Wonderland”. It’s another classic that continues to captivate children and adults alike, centuries later. The original book was titled “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. It was written by Lewis Carroll and published in 1865.
