Style Guide

  • People and Places: details can be seen on mouse-over.
  • Diary Entry - Paragraph ID or text within a paragraph
  • Letter - Paragraph ID or text within a paragraph
  • Text added in another hand: details can be seen on mouse-over.
  • Text removed: details can be seen on mouse-over.
  • The original text has idiosyncratic spelling and the regularized text can be seen on mouse-over OR missing punctuation is restored in the text and the error can be seen on mouse-over.
  • The @ symbol indicates a comment by either a project editor or translator. The comment can be seen on mouse-over of the @ symbol and the team member can be identified by their ID in the “Document Metadata”.
  • Page numbers appear in the left-hand margin when the paragraph begins on a new page; when a paragraph spans two pages, page numbers appear in brackets inline with the text.
  • Clicking on the page numbers reveals the digital facsimile of the original page (in the original language).

Document Metadata

Description of original facsimile: One-page, one-sided handwritten letter in black ink, folded into fourths; written by another hand but signed, shakily, by Lili Elbe; with "mein brief" ("my letter") written in red crayon in the top lefthand margin and three holes punched in the lefthand side.

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When paragraphs line up between the two columns, we have not repeated translator and editor notes. When the paragraphs do not line up, we have included editor notes in both places. We have prioritized readability. Page breaks may not be consistent between the translation and the transcription due to word order differences in the translations.

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  • Translation completed by Tatjana Willms-Jones
  • Translation reviewed by Sabine Meyer
  • Transcription completed by Tatjana Willms-Jones
  • Encoding completed by Colin O'Connell, Natasha Aranda, Susan VanDerveer, Phylicia Hall, John Meehan, Laura Patricio-Bellizzi, Diosa Bahe
  • Encoding assistance and/or XML proofing completed by Caroline McCraw, Orion Elrod
  • XML transformed into HTML on 05/26/2023 by Greer Martin
  • HTML proofing completed by Caroline McCraw, Pamela L. Caughie
  • Images prepared by Matthew Gallagher

Transcription

[Facsimile Image]

Mein Brief -@Editor: PLC DresdenDresden (historical), city in Germany

den 27. Juni 1931.

(01) Liebe FreundinMarie Garland (1889-1967), Danish actress; married to Ernst Harthern,

(02) Tausend Dank für Ihren Brief. Der Ihrige ist der erste, den ich nach meiner Operation geöffnet habe. Ich kann noch nicht selbst schreiben. Diese letzte Operation war furchtbar. Jedesmal Verbinden verursacht mir furchtbare Schmerzen. Ich bekomme fast nichts zu essen und zu trinken. So bleibt es sicherlich noch eine Woche. Ich sehe mit Schrecken dem Moment entgegen, wenn die Klammern aus beiden Wunden entfernt werden.

(03) Sie sind glücklich in der Sommerfrische da in HvenHven (historical), a Swedish island located between Denmark and Sweden. Montag will ich nach ParisParis (historical), capital of France schreiben, dass ihr Gatte so schnell wie möglich Photographien von unserer Arbeit bekommen wird.

(04) Ich finde es auch besser, wenn die dänische Arbeit später herauskommen wird als die deutsche.

(05) Nächste Woche bekommen auch Sie einen besseren Brief.

(06) Viel Liebe und Grüße

(07) Von Ihrer armen kleinen Freundin.

(08) Viele Grüße an Ihren lieben Mann, LilimoreRuth (fictional), modeled on Ruth Hanna Hathern-Thaning (1915-1993), daughter of Ernst Harthern und seinem Bruder.

Lili ElbeLili Elbe (fictional and historical), legal name Lili Ilse Elvenes; born Einar Wegener (1882), died in Dresden, 1931

Translation

My letter -@Editor: PLC DresdenDresden (historical), city in Germany

den 27. Juni 1931.

(01) Dear GirlfriendMarie Garland (1889-1967), Danish actress; married to Ernst Harthern,

(02) Thank you so much for your letter. Yours is the first one that I opened after my operation. I can’t write by myself yet. This last operation was awful. Every change of bandages causes me terrible pain. I barely get anything to eat or to drink. This is probably how it will be for another week. I am dreading the moment when they will remove the staples from both wounds.

(03) You are happy in the breezy summer weather in HvenHven (historical), a Swedish island located between Denmark and Sweden. On Monday I am going to write to ParisParis (historical), capital of France, so that your husband can receive photographs of our work as soon as possible.

(04) I would prefer, if the Danish work would be published later than the German work.

(05) Next week you’ll receive a better letter.

(06) Much love and greetings,

(07) from your poor little friend.

(08) Greetings to your dear husband, LilimoreRuth (fictional), modeled on Ruth Hanna Hathern-Thaning (1915-1993), daughter of Ernst Harthern -@Editor: PLC and his brother.

Lili ElbeLili Elbe (fictional and historical), legal name Lili Ilse Elvenes; born Einar Wegener (1882), died in Dresden, 1931