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ANNE FRANKWRITES SISTER’S AND OWN NAME IN
THEIR COPY OF GRIMMS’ FAIRYTALES
46
●
FRANK, ANNE.
Aus Grimms Märchen
, Signed and Inscribed, “Anne Frank en /
Margot Frank,” on the title-page at upper edge.With Margot Frank’s owner ink stamp on
front free endpaper. Illustrated. 8vo, publisher’s pictorial cloth, moderate scattered wear and
soiling; faint scattered foxing and edge-toning to title-page, front hinge cracked, some scat-
tered staining throughout, blue ink stain to fore-edge.
Vienna: Carl Konegen, 1925; inscription: [Amsterdam, circa 1940]
[20,000/30,000]
WITH
—
Otto H. Frank.Typed Letter Signed,“Otto Frank,” to Mrs. Len van Groen, in Dutch, writ-
ing that news of the discovery of the book once belonging to her daughters had affected him deeply,
explaining that the book was apparently left behind at the house on Merwedeplein before the family
went into hiding, expressing his wish that she keep the book for her daughter’s enjoyment, and asking
to see the book on his next visit to Amsterdam. 1 page, 8vo, personal stationery; horizontal fold.With
the original envelope. Birsfelden, 10 June 1977 * Correspondence between the Van Groen family and
the Anne Frank Foundation in Amsterdam concerning the book. Included is a letter dated October 5,
1994, from a representative of the Foundation, in Dutch:“I enclose the book, which we borrowed this
summer . . . . I am still wondering whether you might eventually give the Foundation custody of the
book? . . .”Together 5 pages. 1994-2014 * Newspaper clippings concerning the book’s discovery from
Het Parool
and
Algemeen Handelsblad
. [Circa 1977].
When Germany was no longer safe for the Frank family, they moved to a house on the Merwedeplein
in Amsterdam, living there between December 1933 and July 1942, after which they went into hid-
ing in the “secret annex” on the Prinsengracht.The book in the present lot was abandoned or forgotten
in the house on Merwedeplein, ending up in a secondhand bookshop on Amsterdam’s Runstraat just
after the war, where it was purchased by someone who knew nothing of the Franks or their story.The
children of the owner, however, recognized the inscribed names when they saw the book decades later, at
which time they shared the story of the book with Otto Frank, whose reply is contained in this lot.