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Lot 62
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Anne Frank's Diary Foreign Rights, Dad Writes to Publisher who "... handled the contract for the Diary"
Anne Frank's Diary Foreign Rights, Dad Writes to Publisher who "... handled the contract for the Diary"
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Description:

Frank Otto



Anne Frank's Diary Published in Portuguese; Otto Frank Reports "I gladly reserve the rights for the publication of the tales for your firm"

 

Two letters exchanged between Otto Frank, father of teenaged German Jewish diarist Anne Frank (1929-1945), and Portuguese publishers, comprised of 2pp in English with 2pp of Portuguese translation. Exchanged between the respective parties in Basle, Switzerland and Lisbon, Portugal in the spring of 1959. Including a 1p TLS signed by Frank. In near fine condition, with expected light paper folds. The letters are double hole-punched along the left margin.

 

1. 1p TLS in English signed by Otto Frank as "Otto Frank" in blue ball-point tip pen at center. Written in Basle, Switzerland on June 4, 1959. A Portuguese translation of the letter (for internal office use) is printed on green onion skin paper and appended at back. 5.75" x 8.25".

 

In full, with unchanged spelling and grammar:

 

"Dear Sir,

 

I thank you for your letter of May 21st, and want to tell you that I gladly reserve the rights for the publication of the tales for your firm.

 

As Mr. Lawrence Smith handled the contract for the Diary and he has asked me some time ago about the rights for the tales in different countries, I shall write him to prepare a contract for you.

 

So you will hear about the matter in due course.

 

In the meantime, I am with kind regards

 

very sincerely Yours

 

[signed] Otto Frank."

 

2. A contemporary clerical copy of the Portuguese publishers' letter that precipitated Frank's response. The original Portuguese letter and its English translation are printed on pale green onion skin paper and dated May 21, 1959. Stapled at upper left, with a few rusted traces. Reproduced in part with the translator's unchanged spelling and grammar errors.

 

"Mrs. Ilse Losa, writer and translator of your daughter's diary, and our good friend, has let us know that you have received in due course our letter about Anne Frank's tales. She told us too, that you asked kindly if we were not willing to wait for the more complete edition of those tales, which is going to be published.

 

Of course we are. But as there is already for instance, as far as we know, an Italian edition of those tales, it would be most kind of you not to negotiate any Portuguese edition of any tales, as we are interested in a more complete edition. And to prevent any surprise, we think it would be important that your agents should be made aware of this, otherwise they may start with other publishing house to negotiate a contract for some tales, placing you and us in a difficult position…"

 

Otto Heinrich Frank (1889-1980) was the sole survivor of his 4-person family, comprised of wife Edith (1900-1945), daughter Margot (1926-1945), and Anne. The Franks, along with four others, hid in a secret annex located in the back upper stories of an Amsterdam business between July 1942 and August 1944. The Franks were discovered, arrested, and sent to Auschwitz in September 1944. Edith died of starvation at Auschwitz in January 1945; her two daughters died of typhus in February or March 1945 at Bergen-Belsen. Otto was released after the Soviets liberated Auschwitz in late January 1945.

 

Anne's writings had been collected and preserved by Otto's coworker Miep Gies, who had sheltered the families in the annex. Otto had initially transcribed Anne's diaries in order to give them to family members, but was eventually persuaded to seek publication. The final manuscript was a combination of two versions of the diaries Anne wrote, with Otto's edits and redactions. The book was first published in Dutch on June 25, 1947 as The Secret Annex: Diary Letters from June 14, 1942 to August 1, 1944.

 

In early January 1958, the Portuguese publishing firm of Livros do Brazil, Ltd. wrote to notify Otto of their first 3,000 limited edition printing of The Diary of Anne Frank. The book's popularity was such that it had already been published in German and French in 1950, and then in English (for both the US and UK markets) in 1952. The Portuguese publishers had been eager to acquire the publication, and worked closely with Otto Frank during the process. Livros do Brazil, Ltd. collaborated with Frank over the next twenty years, as they sought to publish similar and complementary works about Anne Frank and the Jewish war experience.

 

Anne Frank's Tales from a Secret Annex was originally published in the Netherlands in 1949, and appeared in an expanded edition in 1960.

 

The Diary of Anne Frank received both critical and popular acclaim. As of 2015, the book has been translated into over 60 different languages. Both its literary and historical importance cannot be overlooked. Dutch historian Jan Romein put it this way: "To me, however, this apparently inconsequential diary by a child... stammered out in a child's voice, embodies all the hideousness of fascism, more so than all the evidence at Nuremberg put together."

 

This letter demonstrates Otto Frank's lifelong commitment to publishing his daughter's writings. They serve at once as a celebration of her life, and as a warning.

 



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