Dear Mili

Wilhelm Grimm; trans. Ralph Manheim

ISBN 10: 0374317623 / ISBN 13: 9780374317621

Published by Michael di Capua / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1988

About this Item

1st edition (stated), oblong 8vo, unpaginated, color illustrations on every page. Condition: NEAR FINE book / NEAR FINE jacket: tiny spot on front endpaper, otherwise, no visible wear; the jacket is price-clipped. A lovely copy. An old tale by Wilhelm Grimm, first discovered in 1983 and newly translated by Ralph Manheim, this is the first edition of this tale with the magnificent illustrations by Maurice Sendak.

Seller Inventory # 17834

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Dear Mili
• Publisher: Michael di Capua / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374317623
• ISBN 13: 9780374317621
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Folklore / Legends / Fairy tales
  • Children's Literature

About this title

Synopsis

On September 28, 1983, the discovery of a previously unknown tale by Wilhelm Grimm was reported on the front page of The New York Times. "After more than 150 years," the Times noted, "Hansel and Gretel, Snow-White, Rumpelstiltskin, and Cinderella will be joined by another Grimm fairy-tale character." The story of dear Mili was preserved in a letter Wilhelm Grimm wrote to a little girl in 1816, a letter that remained in her family's possession for over a century and a half. It tells of a mother who sends her daughter into the forest to save her from a terrible war. The child comes upon the hut of an old man, who gives her shelter, and she repays his kindness by serving him faithfully for what she thinks are three days. Actually, thirty years have passed, but Mili has remained safe, and with the old man's blessing there is still time for a tender reunion with her mother. As for the pictures that interpret Dear Mili―hailed by School Library Journal as "gorgeous"―they were a milestone in Maurice Sendak's career, the work of a master at the height of his powers.

About the Authors

WILHELM GRIMM (1786–1859) was a German author, linguist, and folklorist who, along with his older brother, Jakob, published Children’s and Household Tales in 1812. Popularly known as Grimms’ Fairy Tales, this collection was continually revised by the brothers and ultimately included 210 folk tales, among them many that have become famous around the world.

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) was the author and illustrator of such classic children's books as Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen. Widely considered one of the most innovative creators of children's literature, he received honors including the Caldecott Medal, the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the National Medal of Arts. Sendak was born in Brooklyn in 1928 and died in Connecticut in 2012.

Ralph Manheim (b. New York, 1907) was an American translator of German and French literature. His translating career began with a translation of Mein Kempf in which Manheim set out to reproduce Hitler's idiosyncratic, often grammatically aberrant style. In collaboration with John Willett, Manheim translated the works of Bertolt Brecht. The Pen/Ralph Manheim Medal for translation, inaugurated in his name, is a major lifetime achievement award in the field of translation. He himself won its predecessor, the PEN translation prize, in 1964. Manheim died in Cambridge in 1992. He was 85.