Preface

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This is No. 431 of Everyman's Library
EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
HEIDI BY JOHANNA SPYRI WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
JOHANNA SPYRI, born in 1827 in Switzer- land . Wrote Heidi in 1 8 8 1 and died in 1 89 1 .
HEIDI
JOHANNA SPYRI
LONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS LTD. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. INC.
All Tights reserved
Made in Great Britain
at The Temple Tress Letchworth
for
J. M. Dent Sc Sons Ltd,
Aldine House Bedford St. London
First published in this edition 1910
Last reprinted 1944
THIS BOOK IS PRODUCED IN COM- PLETE CONFORMITY WITH THE AUTHORIZED ECONOMY STANDARDS
INTRODUCTION
" Heidt " is a delightful story for children of life in the Alps, one of many tales written by the Swiss authoress, Johanna Spyri, who died in her home at Zurich in 1901. She had been well known to the younger readers of her own country since 1880, when she published her story, Heimathlos, which ran into three or more editions, and which, like her other books, as she states on the title page, was written for those who love children, as well as for the youngsters themselves. Her own sympathy with the instincts and longings of the child's heart is shown in her picture of Heidi. The record of the early life of this Swiss child amid the beauties of her passion- ately loved mountain-home and during her exile in the great town has been for many years a favourite book of younger readers in Germany and America, and we think Heidi will win as friendly a greeting now here in England. Madame Spyri, like Hans Andersen, had by tempera- ment a peculiar skill in writing the simple histories of an Innocent world. In all her stories she shows an under- lying desire to preserve children alike from the misun- derstanding and the mistaken kindness that frequently ■ hinder the happiness and natural development of their lives and characters. The authoress, as we feel in read- ing her tales, Uved among the scenes and people she describes, and the setting of her stories has the charm of the mountain scenery amid which she places her small actors. *