Ludwig Bechstein (1801-1960) was a writer, poet, archivist, librarian, collector and pharmacist. Today, he is known almost exclusively among scholars and just by his collections of fairy tales. He was a contemporary of the Grimm Brothers with two volumes of German Fairy Tale Books, with 150 stories altogether. Although almost everybody knows about the Grimms today, his collections were much more popular in his times. From 2001 on, a Thuringian Fairy Tale and Legend Prize "Ludwig Bechstein", is awarded to storytellers, illustrators, publishers, and others in the field of fairy storytelling.

(credit: Oskar Herrfurth postcards about Little Thumbling)

Here are a few more facts about Ludwig Bechstein and his work:

•  He was born to Johanna Karoline Dorothea Bechstein and Louis Hubert Dupontreau. His father was a French emigrant who left his mother before Ludwig's birth. His mother left him as a baby at strangers in Weimar. He was already nine years old when his uncle Johann Matthaus sent him to schools to ensure he acquired a profession - Ludwig became a pharmacist. 
• Ludwig Bechstein started his artistic path as a poet. His poems convinced Duke Bernhard to give him a three-year scholarship. Right after that, he became a librarian and later an archivist. These jobs gave him enough time and energy to write and collect. Bechstein was not a field collector (just like the Grimms were not). He collected stories from different sources, including books and magazines, and rewrote them to be more aesthetic and educational. Scholars describe his collection as a book of fairy tales for children. Bechstein belonged to the Romantic movement (just like the Grimms) and tried to use folklore to strengthen the ties between different political entities in the area of today's Germany.
•  He was married twice. His first wife Karoline died only two years after their marriage. One son was born from this relationship - Reinhold Ludwig Bernhard Matthaus Bechstein (1833–94) became a philologist and professor of German studies. Ludwig's second and last wife was Therese. There is mixed data about their children. Some sources mention five and the other seven children. Anyway, we need to mention especially Adolf Emil Ludwig Bechstein (1843-1914), who became a successful draftsman, painter, and illustrator. Ludwig's (Sr.) relationship with Wilhelmine Mylius a bit is unclear. He met her in 1943, and she became a sort of his inspiration. According to some preserved letters, they definitely had romantic feelings for each other, but their relationship seems to stay platonic. She briefly served as his muse after a prolonged period without inspiration, and he helped her to improve her writing style, eventually leading to her artistic career.