Bloomsbury snaps up 'essential' Anne Frank collection

Bloomsbury Continuum will publish Anne Frank: The Collected Works next May, in the year that she would have celebrated her 90th birthday.

Described by the publisher as “an essential book for scholars and general readers alike", The Collected Works brings together Frank’s complete writings, together with significant photographs and documents. It will be published on 30th May (h/b, £50.00).

The book includes each of the versions of Anne’s diary, including the 'A' and 'B' diaries - Anne’s original text and her edited version, and the definitive reader’s text, ‘Version D’, edited by Mirjam Pressler - the German translator of Anne Frank’s diary who has also written a biography of Frank.

“For the first time readers also have access to Anne’s unpublished letters, her personal reminiscences, daydreams, essays and notebook of favourite quotes all in one place,” Bloomsbury said. The book features essays by scholars and historians on topics such as ‘Anne Frank’s Life’, ‘The History of the Frank Family’ and ‘The Publication History of Anne Frank’s diary’, as well as photographs of the Franks and the other occupants of the annexe.

The publication is fully supported by the Anne Frank Fonds in Basle, Switzerland, which was set up by Anne's father, Otto Frank, to act as guardian of Anne’s work and legacy. Bloomsbury publisher Robin Baird-Smith bought world English rights to Anne Frank: The Collected Works bought from Marc Koralnik, of the Liepman Literary Agency, in Zurich, who represented the Anne Frank Fonds. 

“We feel privileged to have the opportunity to work with the Anne Frank Fonds in Switzerland to publish this landmark book containing everything Anne Frank ever wrote,” Jamie Birkett, editor at Bloomsbury, who will oversee the publication, said. “It’s hard to believe that Anne Frank would have been celebrating her 90th birthday next year; this collection will be essential for anyone who has read and loved her diary as well as those who study the Second World War and the Holocaust. It’s a fitting tribute to a short life and a disproportionally large body of work, one that has resonated with so many people since the diary was first published in the Netherlands in 1947.”

John D Goldsmith, president of the Anne Frank Fonds, said: “This volume shows the remarkable range of her literary talents. It is made all the more poignant by the fact that her young life was cut short in such a brutal and tragic manner.”