Heinrich Hoffmann who was not a professional children’s writer, but a psychiatrist, wrote a small book of instructive horror stories for children, “Styopka-rastryopka”, or in the original “Der Struwwelpeter” (“Neryakha Petr” or “Shaggy Peter”), for his three-year-old son in 1845. The first edition, published in Germany, consisted of six cautionary tales. The next edition, released in 1847, already included 10 stories. A few times the book came out with no information about the author of texts and drawings. The author’s last name, Hoffman, appeared only in the fifth edition. The character he created – ‘Neryakha Petr’ - became a beloved hero for many generations of children in different countries.

In the author’s lifetime, this book went through almost a hundred editions. It was translated into dozens of languages (including Russian) and is considered one of the most popular children’s books in the history of literature.

As a result, Hoffman wrote and illustrated a book for his son. However, to his genuine surprise, not only his child, but also his adult friends enjoyed it.

Only his acquaintances, a publisher Zachary Löwenthal and later Karl-Friedrich Löning, were able to convince him of the need to publish his book. After the success of the published book, Hoffman wrote:

In Hoffmann’s book, adults even rescued disobedient children, such as the doctor who treated the cruel Fedya, bitten by a dog, or kind people who pulled Razinya-Andrei out of the river.

However, some story endings are genuinely scary: a pile of ashes was all that was left of a girl who played with matches; the boy who did not want to eat soup died of exhaustion on the fifth day; someone ended up with his fingers cut off; someone was dipped in ink. But children are very good at reading the principle “If it”s funny, it”s not scary”, and it is not easy to write in this manner.

Such a tough position remained unacceptable for Russian children’s writers for a long time, which did not keep Heinrich Hoffmann’s stories from living their own unique life in Russia. The Styopka-rastryopka book left a strong impression on many famous people back when they were children.

For example, a famous Russian poet and author of popular children’s books Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak recalled, ‘The children”s book “Styopka-rastryopka” fell into my hands much later than “Rocambole” and other French novels. I really liked the funny, clumsy, already old-fashioned, yet very playful poems’. 

At the exhibition, you can find multiple editions of “Styopka-rastryopka”: several Russian ones and, of course, a German one from the Book Museum. However, keep in mind that the names and stories might vary so much depending on the edition that it is difficult to uncover the original source. Russian translators almost always gave Russian names to the characters of Hoffmann’s poems, starting with the Styopka-rastryopka. Therefore, we have cruel Fedya, Petya-sosulka, Fedyushka-vertushka, Petr-samolot, Andrey-rotozey, and others. Only the boy who did not want to eat soup retained the German name Fritz.