interrupted the work. Eight volumes consisting of 1824 printed columns, a bibliography and a detailed preface were finally published on 13 April 1854. The first edition of the DWB exceeded the expectations of the brothers and the publishers. The press called it a "great national work" and its first shipments sold 10,000 copies. As it included words regarded as "indelicate," Jacob anticipated criticism of this and stated the following in the Foreword: "This dictionary is not an immoral book, but a scientific undertaking. Even the Bible does not lack for words that are frowned upon in fine society." - Jacob Grimm, Vorwort 1. Band, S. XXXIV , Leipzig 1854 More volumes and updates were planned, but in their lifetime the brothers could only fully complete portions: Wilhelm Grimm wrote the articles to the letter D and died in 1859; Jacob, who was able to fully complete the letters A, B, C and E, died in 1863 while working on the entry for "Frucht" (fruit). Post-Grimm era (1863–1907) After the deaths of the Grimm Brothers, successive linguists continued the work. The first of these were close associates of the brothers, Rudolf Hildebrand and Karl Weigand. The DWB also became an affair of state when Otto von Bismarck requested the North German Confederation Federal Council to provide state funding in 1867. The young Germanist Moritz Heyne joined the project and became one of its most important contributors. By 1888 Heyne had invited graduate students to post articles under his supervision, turning the DWB into a true consortium for the first time. Included in this group was Rudolf Meißner who collaborated on the DWB for six decades (1889–1948). These ever-changing authors had different approaches and the work also proceeded very slowly. Hermann Wunderlich, Hildebrand's successor, only finished Gestüme to Gezwang after 20 years of work and 3000 columns of text. By 1905, academic professionals across Germany were unanimous: management of the DWB had to change or it would never be completed. Academy of Sciences (1908–1961) The prestigious Prussian Academy of Sciences took on formal development of the DWB in 1908 with Göttingen remaining a central collection point for source documents. Operations were streamlined and salaried workers were provided through funding by the Empire. This period of reform and consolidation ended with World War I in 1914. By the early '20s the project was again close to collapse as German hyperinflation drove costs of