Heinrich Hoffmann

Born in Frankfurt am Main in 1809, Heinrich Hoffmann trained as a physician and went on to work as a psychiatrist as well as a writer and illustrator. Although he wrote on medical subjects too, he is remembered above all for Der Struwwelpeter, the illustrated children’s book first published in the 1840s.

Hoffmann originally created the book as a Christmas gift for his son after failing to find a children’s book he liked. Its rhyming cautionary tales, bold pictures, and exaggerated punishments made it unlike most children’s books of its time, and it became an enduring classic.

He died in Frankfurt in 1894, but his most famous work never really disappeared. Readers still return to it for its odd mix of comedy, moral warning, and gleeful mischief, which makes Hoffmann a distinctive figure in both children’s literature and cultural history.