Shockheaded Peter
Struwwelpeter in a 1917 edition.
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| Author | Heinrich Hoffmann |
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| Working title | Lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder mit 15 schön kolorierten Tafeln für Kinder von 3–6 Jahren |
| Illustrator | Heinrich Hoffmann |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Subject | Cautionary tales |
| Genre | Children's book |
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Publication date
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1845 |
| Followed by | König Nussknacker und der arme Reinhold |
Der Struwwelpeter (1845; or Shockheaded Peter) is a German children's book by Heinrich Hoffmann. It comprises ten illustrated and rhymed stories, mostly about children. Each has a clear moral that demonstrates the disastrous consequences of misbehavior in an exaggerated way. The title of the first story provides the title of the whole book. Der Struwwelpeter is one of the earliest books for children that combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, and is considered a precursor to comic books.
Der Struwwelpeter is known for introducing the bogeyman character of The Tailor, or Scissorman, to Western literature. Some researchers now see the stories in the book as illustrations of many child mental disorders that we know about today.
Hoffmann wrote Struwwelpeter in reaction to the lack of good children's books. Intending to buy a picture book as a Christmas present for his three-year-old son, Hoffmann instead wrote and illustrated his own book. In 1845 he was persuaded by friends to publish the book anonymously as Lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder mit 15 schön kolorierten Tafeln für Kinder von 3–6 Jahren (Funny Stories and Whimsical Pictures with 15 Beautifully Coloured Panels for Children Aged 3 to 6). The book was one of the first uses of chromolithography (a way of making multi-colored prints) in a children's book.
For the third edition, published in 1858, the title was changed to Struwwelpeter, the name of the character in the first story. The book became popular among children throughout Europe, and, writes author and researcher Penni Cotton, the pictures and characters showed a great deal of originality and directness.
Struwwelpeter has been translated into several languages. In 1891, Mark Twain wrote his own translation of the book but because of copyright issues, Twain's "Slovenly Peter" was not published until 25 years after his death in 1935.
British twin illustrators Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone provided new illustrations for an English translation published in 1950.
In 2012, Der Struwwelpeter was named as an "Honoured Book" in The Extraordinary Book 2012.
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Wikipedia