Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916) was a literary and Jewish historian. He was a writer for the Jewish Encyclopaedia and a notable folklorist, creating several noteworthy collections of fairy tales. He was secretary of the Society of Hebrew Literature from 1878 to 1884, and in 1882 came into prominence as the writer of a series of articles in The Times on the persecution of the Jews in Russia. This led to the formation of the mansion house fund and committee, of which Jacobs was secretary from 1882 to 1900. In 1890 he edited English Fairy Tales, the first of his long series of books of fairy tales published. Others include Indian Fairy Tales (1892), Celtic Fairy Tales (1892), More English Fairy Tales (1894) and More Celtic Fairy Tales (1895). He was also the author of Book of Wonder Voyages (1896) and The Story of Geographical Discovery (1898).