Verse in the Album of Anna Schmid

August, 1899

Du Maedel klein und fein

was schreib ich Dir hinein?

Wueste Dir gar mancherlei

Ein Kuss ist auch dabei

Aufs Muendchen klein.

Wenn Du drum boese bist

Musst nit gleich greinen

Die beste Strafe ist--

Gibst mir auch einen.

Dies Gruesschen zum Andenken an Ihr spitsbuebisches Freunderl Albert Einstein

Dainty Missy mine,

May I scribble you a line?

A zillion come to mind, but this

Is offered with a kiss

On your chinny chin.

And if it puts you out,

Don’t sniffle now, don’t pout,

You punish me the best when

You kiss me back again.

This little greeting as a memento of your mischievous pal, Albert Einstein.

This month Princeton University Press publishes “The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Volume I, The Early Years: 1879-1902,” the first of a projected 30 volumes. Most of even this first $52.50 volume is straight physics. All of it is written in German, with only the publisher’s headings and footnotes in English. About 50 letters are included, however, which Einstein exchanged with Mileva Maric, his future wife. Also included are student notes and other juvenilia as well as relevant portions of an unpublished biography of Einstein by his sister, Maja Winteler-Einstein. Anna Schmid, in whose honor Einstein wrote the playful rhyme above, was the sister-in-law of an innkeeper in Mittmenstetten, Switzerland, where the young scientist was a guest in 1899. 1987 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Translation by Jack Miles.