# Is "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen (translated by William Archer) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (translated by William Archer) (T. Fisher Unwin, 1889) is identified by: Title page reads "A Doll's House. An earlier English translation, "Nora: A Play," by Henrietta Frances Lord, was published by Griffith, Farran & Co., London, in 1882 and used for an amateur production at a hall in Argyle Street, London, in 1885, giving it technical priority as the first English-language edition of the play; the Archer/Unwin 1889 edition is nonetheless the edition collected and cited as Ibsen's English-language breakthrough text.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Title page reads "A Doll's House
- Play in Three Acts
- Translated by William Archer," T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1889 — the first edition of this specific, historically important English translation
- This is the text tied to the June 7, 1889 Novelty Theatre production in London (Charles Charrington and Janet Achurch), the performance generally credited with establishing Ibsen with English-speaking audiences
- T. Fisher Unwin issued a limited edition of 115 copies of this translation together with photographs from the Achurch/Charrington production
- Archer's translation was later folded into his own multi-volume collected Ibsen's Prose Dramas, so a first-edition copy must carry the 1889 T. Fisher Unwin single-play imprint rather than a later collected-works volume
- Publisher imprint reads T. Fisher Unwin

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Henrik Ibsen (translated by William Archer) |
| Publisher | T. Fisher Unwin |
| Year | 1889 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Title page reads "A Doll's House |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Title page reads "A Doll's House. Play in Three Acts. Translated by William Archer," T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1889 — the first edition of this specific, historically important English translation. This is the text tied to the June 7, 1889 Novelty Theatre production in London (Charles Charrington and Janet Achurch), the performance generally credited with establishing Ibsen with English-speaking audiences; T. Fisher Unwin issued a limited edition of 115 copies of this translation together with photographs from the Achurch/Charrington production. Archer's translation was later folded into his own multi-volume collected Ibsen's Prose Dramas, so a first-edition copy must carry the 1889 T. Fisher Unwin single-play imprint rather than a later collected-works volume.

## Is this the true first?
An earlier English translation, "Nora: A Play," by Henrietta Frances Lord, was published by Griffith, Farran & Co., London, in 1882 and used for an amateur production at a hall in Argyle Street, London, in 1885, giving it technical priority as the first English-language edition of the play; the Archer/Unwin 1889 edition is nonetheless the edition collected and cited as Ibsen's English-language breakthrough text.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Doll's House* by Henrik Ibsen (translated by William Archer) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-dolls-house
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.