Felix Hoffmann (1911–1975) was born in Aarau, Switzerland. He was an illustrator and also painted on glass. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe, Germany, and the School of Fine and Applied Arts in Berlin. He illustrated eighty-six books. In 1957 Hoffmann was awarded the Swiss Children’s Book Prize for his life’s work. He also appeared on the Honors list for the Hans Christian Andersen Award several times, and in 1972 he was short-listed for the same award for his life’s work. He is recognized as one of the most important twentieth-century Swiss illustrators of children’s books.

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were born in 1785 and 1786 near Frankfurt, Germany. In their early twenties, they began the linguistic studies that would culminate in their collected editions of folk- and fairy tales. They got their stories from peasants and villagers, and sometimes from already-published works from other cultures. Jacob did much of the research; Wilhelm put the stories into literary form.