The Doll’s House : Henrik Ibsen [ First American Edition , Theosophy , Henrietta Frances Lord ]

Description

First American Edition of the seminal play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen , titled here as “The Doll’s House” with Theosophy inspired introduction by Henrietta Frances Lord

 

Ibsen , Henrik. Lord, Henrietta Frances, trans. The Doll’s House :  A Play. D. Appleton Publishers : New York. 1889. First American Edition.

 

Scarce first American edition of the classic early feminist play “A Doll’s House” (1879) by Danish playwright Henrik Ibsen with the title printed here as “The Doll’s House”.

This edition includes a lengthy preface written by translator, women’s rights activist and Theosophist Henrietta Frances Lord originally published for the prior British publication of this translation.

Since at least 1919, Ibsen scholars have pointed to an unusual vein in Lord’s readings of the writer’s plays, specifically Henrietta Lord ‘s insistence in both this translation of A Doll’s House and her subsequent translation Ghosts to use the texts as platforms for Theosophy and Christian Science doctrines.

Termed ‘bizarre appropriations’ by Ibsen scholar Ian Britain, these include Lord’s references to “Oriental views”, “spiritual laws”, “highest Eros”, and the struggle between “Will” and “Conscience” emphasized in her purportedly biographical introductory essay, The Life of Henrik Ibsen.

 

8vo, 138pp , green boards, shelf cocked. Deckled edge bookblock darkened, pages toned. Minor soiling to boards, bumped corners, spine darkened with scuffing along sides. Some pencil markings emphasizing passages of preface. Pages otherwise clean. Good condition.

 

 

 

If you liked this book, you might also like this first paperback edition of the autobiography of ex-Miss USA Leona Gage or this first edition of Of, By & About Henry Miller.