Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916) was born in Sydney, Australia. He moved to England in 1872 and studied at King's College, Cambridge University. He later became interested in anthropology and became an important member of the English Folklore Society. He spent ten years collecting British folk fairy tales and published them in two volumes in 1890 and 1894, making up for a shortcoming in British literature. In 1900, the family moved to New York, USA. Jacobs first worked as a revision editor of the "Jewish Encyclopedia" and later became an English professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary. In 1914, he returned to Europe for treatment of heart disease. He died of the disease two years later at the age of sixty-two.