Who is Joseph Jacobs?
Posted by kathavarta on June 27, 2008
Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was a literary and Jewish historian. He was a writer for the Jewish Encyclopaedia and a notable folklorist, creating several noteworthy collections of fairy tales
Jacobs was born at Sydney, the son of John and Sarah Jacobs. He was educated at Sydney Grammar School and at the University of Sydney, where he won a scholarship for classics, mathematics and chemistry. He did not complete a course at Sydney, but left for England at the age of 18 and entered St John’s College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1876, and in 1877 studied at the University of Berlin.
In 1890 he published English Fairy Tales, followed, in 1894, by More English Fairy Tales. The books include popular tales such as Jack and the Beanstalk, The Story of the Three Bears (Goldilocks), Cap o’ Rushes (a Cinderella type story), and Dick Whittington. Jacobs wrote the stories in a way in which they would actually be told to children.
His other works include collections of Celtic fairy tales, a collection of Indian fairy tales, an edition of Aesop, and a Book of Wonder Voyages.
His Work:
Earliest English Version of the Fables of Bidpai (1888)
Fables of Aesop (1889)
English Fairy Tales (1890)
Celtic Fairy Tales (1892)
The Jews of Angevin England (1893)
Studies in Biblical Archaeology (1894)
Contributor to the Jewish Encyclopaedia, from 1900
Indian Fairy Tales (1912)
European Folk and Fairy Tales (1916)
