Manhattan Rare Book Company

“[Anne Frank] became the most memorable figure to emerge from World War II--besides Hitler, of course, who also proclaimed his life and his beliefs in a book. In a way, the Holocaust began with one book and ended with another. Yet it was Anne's that finally prevailed--a beneficent and complicated work outlasting a simple and evil one.” -Roger Rosenblatt

RARE FIRST EDITION, one of only 1500 copies printed, of one of the central works of the twentieth century. Complete with three photographic plates, including the frontispiece portrait of Anne Frank.

"The diary written by Anne Frank is probably the single most widely read book to come out of the Holocaust (Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, 1952; first published as Het Achterhuis, 1947). Millions of readers have read the story of the teenage girl's two years in hiding. It has been translated into more than thirty-five languages and published in as many countries. Her diary was also the foundation for a successful drama performed worldwide (The Diary of Anne Frank, 1956) and a film of the same title (1959). Especially in the last twenty years, many schoolchildren and adults alike have had their first exposure to the effects of Adolf Hitler's war through Anne's writing. Anne's diary so captured the attention of the world that her name has become symbolic of the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah…

"To many, Anne Frank has become a symbol of the strength and optimism of the human spirit in the midst of tragedy. In July 1944 Anne wrote what was to become the most famous line of her diary and the one most often used to symbolize her spirit. 'In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart'… Anne's writing put a human face to the unfathomable statistics of the millions of individuals who suffered and died" (Sarita Cargas, Encyclopedia of Holocaust Literature).

Amsterdam: Contact, 1947. Octavo, original paper boards; custom silk box. In the original Dutch. Toning to spine and extreme edges of boards (as usual); text edges a little browned (as always). Without the exceedingly rare dust jacket. A very good copy of a rare and fragile book that is notoriously difficult to find in collectible condition.

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