About the Author Karel Jaromír Erben (Miletín, 1811–Prague, 1870) studied philosophy and law at university in Prague, then worked as a court official and piano teacher before becoming actuary to the Royal Bohemian Learned Society and secretary of the National Museum, at which point he was able to begin collecting folktales and writing poetry. Having achieved the position of archivist of the National Museum and then archivist of the City of Prague, he edited and published important medieval and Renaissance Czech texts. He also collected folk songs, ballads, and tales, and his work includes: Folk Songs of Bohemia (1842–45), collecting 500 songs; Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes (1864), a five-volume compendium of Czech folklore; One Hundred Slavic Folk Tales and Legends in Original Dialects (1865); and the seminal Selected Folk Tales and Legends from Other Slavic Branches (1869). His posthumous Czech Fairy Tales comprised his output of prose fiction. A Bouquet, published in 1853, is considered his most important contribution to literature.
171