Jacobs, Joseph (1854-1916), was a British scholar best known for his collections of folk tales for children. Jacobs collected tales from England, Scotland, and Wales and modified them for younger audiences. English Fairy Tales (1890) and More English Fairy Tales (1893) rank among his most popular works. They include such stories as “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “The Three Little Pigs.” Jacobs’s other collections of tales include The Fables of Aesop (1889), Celtic Fairy Tales (1891), and More Celtic Fairy Tales (1894).
Jacobs was born on Aug. 29, 1854, in Sydney, Australia, and moved to England in the early 1870’s. In 1900, he settled permanently in the United States. Jacobs was active in Jewish affairs throughout his career and wrote many works on Jewish history. He died on Jan. 30, 1916.
