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Lot 89
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Otto Frank, 1959 Film "The Diary of Anne Frank"
Otto Frank, 1959 Film "The Diary of Anne Frank"
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Description:

Frank Anne

Otto Frank, 1959 Film "The Diary of Anne Frank"

 

Correspondence between Otto Frank, father of teenaged German Jewish diarist Anne Frank (1929-1945), and Portuguese book publishers regarding a proposed contract of Anne Frank's Tales from a Secret Annex. The lot is comprised of a typed letter signed by Frank's second wife, Elfriede Geiringer Frank, on behalf of her husband; and a reply from the publishers dating from the summer of 1959. Four pieces total, in English and Portuguese. The documents are double hole punched and have expected light paper folds, else near fine.

 

1-2. 1p typed letter in English signed by Elfriede Geiringer Frank (1905-1998), Otto Frank's second wife, as "for Otto Frank / Mrs. Elfriede Frank" near the bottom. Written in Basel, Switzerland on July 6, 1959. On cream stationery paper. 5.875" x 8.25". Accompanied by a Portuguese translation on pale green onion skin paper. Stapled at upper left.

 

In part, with unchanged spelling and grammar:

 

"From my agent, Mr. Lawrence Smith I heard that you want to examine Anne's tales and other writings before making a firm offer.

 

As the Italian edition will only be published in fall, I could send you English translations, so that you would get an impression of the stories. There is also a French edition containing the 'Diary' and 8 stories which I could send you.

 

As I think it important that the tales are published in your country in fall, as the film will be shown at about this time, I would very much like to get your decision as soon as possible…"

 

3-4. A contemporary clerical copy of the Portuguese publishers' reply dated July 13, 1959, presumably written in Lisbon, Portugal. The original letter in Portuguese--marked with several handwritten edits--is accompanied by a translation into English. Printed on pale green onion skin paper. Stapled at upper left.

 

In part, with unchanged typographical and grammatical errors.

 

"Thank you very much for your letter of the 6th July, about your daughter's tales and other writings…Our interest is not a commercial one, or it is not that in the first hand: we are interested out of our admiration and respect…It is only natural then that, having published the Diary, we are interested in the other writings. Of course we want to see the English and French translations of those writings. We have no doubt about them; only we should like to publish jointly all that is available…"

 

Otto Heinrich Frank (1889-1980) was the sole survivor of his 4-person family, comprised of wife Edith (1900-1945), and daughters 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.

 

In our July 6, 1959 letter, Otto Frank mentions wanting to coordinate the publication of Anne's Tales in Portuguese with the limited cinematic release of 1959's The Diary of Anne Frank. Based on the play The Diary of a Young Girl cowritten by American husband-and-wife playwrights Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, the 170-minute-long black and white feature film produced by Twentieth-Century-Fox Studios had premiered in New York City in mid-March 1959. It garnered several Academy Award nominations and wins. 

 

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 lot comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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