The letters were originally published in German in 1952 as Briefe an Milena, edited by Willy Haas, who deleted some passages that he thought might hurt people who were still living at the time.

The collection was first published in English by Schocken Books in 1953, translated by Tania and James Stern.

A new German edition, restoring the passages Haas had deleted, was published in 1986, followed by a new English translation by Philip Boehm in 1990.

This edition includes some of Milena's letters to Max Brod, as well as four essays she wrote and her obituary for Kafka.

The easy possibility of writing letters must have brought wrack and ruin to the souls of the world.