Edgar Taylor (author)
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Edgar Taylor (28 January 1793– 19 August 1839) was a British
solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...
and author of legal, historical, literary works and translations. He was the first translator of the
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...
's 1812 book ''
Kinder- und Hausmärchen ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (, , commonly abbreviated as ''KHM''), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, first published on 20 December 1812. Vol ...
'' into English, as ''German Popular Stories'' (1823). In 1826, he translated the second volume (1814) of the ''Kinder- und Hausmärchen'' .


Biography

Taylor was born on 28 January 1793 in Banham, Norfolk, UK. He was the fifth son of Samuel Taylor and grandson of John Taylor. He studied at a school in Palgrave under Charles Lloyd and became his uncle's apprentice in Diss in 1809. Taylor was reported to be fluent in Italian and Spanish before arriving in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in 1814 and subsequently learned German and French. In 1817, with
William Roscoe William Roscoe (8 March 175330 June 1831) was an English banker, lawyer, and briefly a Member of Parliament. He is best known as one of England's first abolitionists, and as the author of the poem for children '' The Butterfly's Ball, and th ...
's son Robert, Taylor set up the solicitor firm Taylor & Roscoe in King's Bench Walk,
Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...
in London. Taylor was also an original member of the Noncon Club, which was founded in July 1817 by Robert Aspland to advance
religious freedom Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...
. He co-operated with Aspland in ecclesiastical politics, working for the legal recognition of the rights of nonconformists. As a dissenting deputy, he took part in the 1828 movement for repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts and in 1837 was appointed an unpaid commissioner for carrying out the Dissenters' Marriage Act. He worked as a lawyer until 1832, when he was compelled to give up much of his professional work, having contracted an incurable disease in 1827. After a long illness, he died on 19 August 1839 at Bedford Row, London and was buried in
Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...
.


Literary career

Taylor anonymously published translations of the
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...
's ''Kinder- und Hausmärchen'' as ''German Popular Stories'' between 1823 and 1826, with illustrations by
George Cruikshank George Cruikshank or Cruickshank ( ; 27 September 1792 – 1 February 1878) was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern William Hogarth, Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dicken ...
.Susina, Jan. "Taylor, Edgar." ''The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales.'' Jack Zipes, Ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. p. 511. The second edition, ''Gammer Grethel, or German Fairy Tales and Popular Stories'', was published in 1839 and contained illustrations from both Cruikshank and
Ludwig Emil Grimm Ludwig Emil Grimm (14 March 1790 – 4 April 1863) was a German painter, art professor, etcher and copper engraver. Early life Grimm was born in Hanau, in 1790. His brothers Jacob Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were linguists, lexicographers ...
.
Jack Zipes Jack David Zipes (born June 7, 1937) is a literary scholar and author. He is a professor emeritus in the Department of German, Nordic, Slavic and Dutch at the University of Minnesota. Zipes is known for his work on fairy tales, folklore, crit ...
regards Taylor's translations as representative of a more general movement gathering support in the 1820s, which tended to separate the fantasy elements of fairy tales from cruelty and bawdy, with the addition of Christian teaching. Taylor's English edition was more popular than the Grimms' first edition, which was more scholarly. He wrote to the brothers to share that he created the translations with "the amusement of some young friends principally in view." Jan Susina wrote that the popularity of the translations helped make fairytales an acceptable form of children's literature in England. Among Taylor's other publications were: * 1825: ''Lays of the Minne-singers … with Historical and Critical Notices'' (illustrated) * 1833: ''The Book of Rights'' - a digest of constitutional law with comments from Taylor * 1837: ''Master Wace his Chronicle of the Norman Conquest, from the "Roman de Rou", translated with Notes'' - these notes were appended to Alexander Malet's 1860 translation. * 1840 (posthumous): ''The Suffolk Bartholomeans'' - a memoir of John Meadowe edited by Taylor's sister Emily * 1840 (posthumous): ''The New Testament … revised from the Authorised Version … by a Layman'' - edited by William Hincks In addition to his books and translations, Taylor wrote in ''The Jurist'', ''Legal Observer'', '' Retrospective Review'', ''
Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly United Kingdom, British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the libe ...
'', and '' Morning Chronicle''. Among his contributions to the '' Monthly Repository'' were an 1819 memoir of Bible critic Johann Jakob Wettstein and ''Observations on Mahometanism'' (1820).


Personal life

Taylor and Ann Christie of Hackney married in 1823 and had one daughter.


References


External links

* ** , translated by Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes * *
''German popular stories''
a facsimile of the translation by Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Edgar 1793 births 1839 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery People from Breckland District