# Is "The Diary of a Young Girl (Het Achterhuis)" by Anne Frank a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Diary of a Young Girl (Het Achterhuis) by Anne Frank (Uitgeverij Contact, 1947) is identified by: Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Contact, published 25 June 1947 in 3,036 copies, printed by Ellerman Harms N.V., Amsterdam. Original-language (Dutch) precedence; the census claim is correct.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Contact, published 25 June 1947 in 3,036 copies, printed by Ellerman Harms N.V., Amsterdam
- Title page: "Het Achterhuis: dagboekbrieven van 12 juni 1942 – 1 augustus 1944... met een woord vooraf door Annie Romein-Verschoor." Collation [2], X, 253 pp., illustrated with a frontispiece portrait, photographic plates of the hiding place, a plan of the Annex and diary facsimiles; format roughly 11 x 19 cm
- THE decisive point is on the half-title: the first edition carries the statement "Proloog-reeks" (the Prologue series), and that statement is absent from the second and all subsequent editions
- The first through fourth editions are printed on grey paper in plain cardboard covers with an orange rectangular panel carrying author, title and publisher; wartime paper shortage means sheets of the German book Die Vergeltung
- were used in the binding
- Jacket, designed by Helmut Salden and printed on cheap wood-pulp paper: the author's name is printed in YELLOW on the first edition, and the first six editions are distinguished by that colour in sequence — yellow (the printed pricet), blue (2nd), orange (3rd), red (4th), mint green (5th), blue-green (6th)
- Publisher imprint reads Uitgeverij Contact

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Anne Frank |
| Publisher | Uitgeverij Contact |
| Year | 1947 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Contact, published 25 June 1947 in 3,036 copies, printed by Ellerman Harms N.V., Amsterdam |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Contact, published 25 June 1947 in 3,036 copies, printed by Ellerman Harms N.V., Amsterdam. Title page: "Het Achterhuis: dagboekbrieven van 12 juni 1942 – 1 augustus 1944... met een woord vooraf door Annie Romein-Verschoor." Collation [2], X, 253 pp., illustrated with a frontispiece portrait, photographic plates of the hiding place, a plan of the Annex and diary facsimiles; format roughly 11 x 19 cm. THE decisive point is on the half-title: the first edition carries the statement "Proloog-reeks" (the Prologue series), and that statement is absent from the second and all subsequent editions. The first through fourth editions are printed on grey paper in plain cardboard covers with an orange rectangular panel carrying author, title and publisher; wartime paper shortage means sheets of the German book Die Vergeltung (1941) were used in the binding. Jacket, designed by Helmut Salden and printed on cheap wood-pulp paper: the author's name is printed in YELLOW on the first edition, and the first six editions are distinguished by that colour in sequence — yellow (the printed pricet), blue (2nd), orange (3rd), red (4th), mint green (5th), blue-green (6th). The belly band, usually missing, follows the same colour sequence and is yellow on the first. Note the internal discrepancy that is itself a point: the jacket subtitle reads "Dagboekbrieven van 14 Juni 1942 – 1 Augustus 1944" while the title page reads "12 juni 1942," a mismatch the Anne Frank House documents as running through the sixth edition. The second printing followed in December 1947. Trade descriptions citing a first-edition print run of 1,500 copies are not supported — the Anne Frank House documents 3,036.

## Is this the true first?
Original-language (Dutch) precedence; the census claim is correct. Contact, Amsterdam, 1947 is the true first. Two 1952 English editions are separately collected and both should be named. UK: London, Vallentine Mitchell, published April 1952, which precedes and was quietly received. US: New York, Doubleday & Company, published 12 June 1952 in a first printing of 5,000 copies — translated from the Dutch by B. M. Mooyaart-Doubleday with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt. The Doubleday first American edition states "First Edition" on the copyright page, is 285 pp., has a red spine lettered in black and the top edge of the text block dyed red (the dye is often faded), and the first-issue jacket is priced at the flap, carries the code "A.F;T.O.D.A.Y.G." at the top of the front panel, and has no code on the rear panel or rear flap. Separately, do not treat the 1995 "Definitive Edition" or the 2001 "Critical Edition" as firsts — both restore passages absent from the 1947 text and are new texts, i.e. classic "first thus" traps.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The Doubleday American edition was reprinted almost immediately — a second printing of 15,000 and a third of 45,000 followed the 5,000-copy first — so copies lacking the "First Edition" statement on the copyright page are common later printings, not the first. For the Dutch original, the "Proloog-reeks" half-title statement and the yellow jacket lettering are the discriminators against the second and later editions. No dedicated book-club issue of either the 1947 Contact first or the 1952 Doubleday first is documented in the sources consulted.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Diary of a Young Girl (Het Achterhuis)* by Anne Frank a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-diary-of-a-young-girl-het-achterhuis
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.