The German-language edition of Grimm's fairytales is well-worn, and includes classics like Snow White and Hansel and Gretel. It belonged to Anne Frank and her sister Margot before they went into hiding in an Amsterdam apartment in 1942 to escape the Nazis.

World famous for keeping a diary while in hiding, Anne Frank also wrote in this small collection of fairytales: Her name and Margot's can be found in Anne's handwriting on the fly leaf. In addition, the letters MF are stamped in purple inside the cover.

The book, originally published in 1925, is now going up for auction on May 5 at Swann Auction Galleries in New York City.

According to the auction house, the book was left behind in the Amsterdam apartment when the Frank family was arrested and deported to a concentration camp. Shortly after the war, it turned up in a second-hand book store and was bought by a Dutch couple. The couple's children saw the inscription in 1977 and contacted Anne's father, Otto Frank.

While Anne died in Auschwitz in 1945, Otto Frank was the only member of the family to survive the Holocaust. He composed a letter to the finders of the book, expressing how moved he was to learn of the volume's discovery and saying that the family should keep it in their possession.

Anne Frank's "Grimm's Fairytales" has been valued at $20,000 to $30,000 and will go up for auction on May 5. In 1988, Swann Auction Galleries sold a set of letters sent by Anne and Margot Frank to their American pen-pals for $165,000.

kbm/eg (with afp)