‘Literary Legend’ Judith Jones who is credited with rescuing Anne Frank’s diary from a rejection pile has died at her home in Vermont in the USA. The literary editor works for Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for more than 50 years, officially retiring just 6 years ago and is considered to be a legend within the industry.
The Diary of Anne Frank is the personal diary of Jewish teenager, Anne Frank who documented her thoughts to paper while hiding from the Nazis between June 1942 and August 1944 and is one of the most famous testimonies of life in World War II, making it one of the most famous diaries of all time.
The diary was first published in the Netherlands in 1947 but wasn’t particularly well known. The manuscript was then rejected for publication by Knopf Doubleday in the USA before being picked up and read by Judith Jones. Knopf Doubleday then run a small print run of just 5,000 copies but sales quickly took off and reprints were ordered.
Judith Jones is also credited with discovering cookery writer Julia Child and spent her career editing literary giants such as Anne Tyler, John Updike and others.
Knopf Doubleday announced the death of Judith Jones this week stating that ‘Judith was a legend in book publishing’.
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I knew of her from her work with Julia Child. I had no idea she was the one who gave the world one of the best books about the wastefulness of war