# Is "Kristin Lavransdatter (Kransen / Husfrue / Korset)" by Sigrid Undset a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Kristin Lavransdatter (Kransen / Husfrue / Korset) by Sigrid Undset (H. Aschehoug & Co., 1920) is identified by: The signature work is the medieval trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter, and the true first is the three original-language Norwegian volumes from H. The true first is the Norwegian-language original from H.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The signature work is the medieval trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter, and the true first is the three original-language Norwegian volumes from H. Aschehoug & Co. in Kristiania (Oslo): Kransen
- , Husfrue
- , and Korset
- — a collector wants all three in first printings, with volume one (Kransen, 1920) the cornerstone
- The decisive point of issue is Aschehoug's printing-run ("tusen"/thousand) convention: the true first printing carries the 1920 title-page date and does NOT state an elevated thousand-count; later impressions are marked with a printing statement such as "femte tusen" (5th thousand) or "40 tusen." Kransen was a runaway success and was reprinted heavily within a couple of years (dealer copies dated 1923 already state "40 tusen"), so any copy showing a high thousand-count or a post-1920 title-page date is a later printing, not the first
- The volumes appeared in Aschehoug's publisher's cloth of the period (dealer copies of the era show cloth lettered in gilt); note that later thousand-count reprints appear in both cloth and printed wrappers, so binding alone does not establish priority — the title-page year and absence of a thousand-count statement do
- Publisher imprint reads H. Aschehoug & Co.

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Sigrid Undset |
| Publisher | H. Aschehoug & Co. |
| Year | 1920 |
| True first | British edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The signature work is the medieval trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter, and the true first is the three original-language Norwegian volumes from… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The signature work is the medieval trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter, and the true first is the three original-language Norwegian volumes from H. Aschehoug & Co. in Kristiania (Oslo): Kransen (1920), Husfrue (1921), and Korset (1922) — a collector wants all three in first printings, with volume one (Kransen, 1920) the cornerstone. The decisive point of issue is Aschehoug's printing-run ("tusen"/thousand) convention: the true first printing carries the 1920 title-page date and does NOT state an elevated thousand-count; later impressions are marked with a printing statement such as "femte tusen" (5th thousand) or "40 tusen." Kransen was a runaway success and was reprinted heavily within a couple of years (dealer copies dated 1923 already state "40 tusen"), so any copy showing a high thousand-count or a post-1920 title-page date is a later printing, not the first. The volumes appeared in Aschehoug's publisher's cloth of the period (dealer copies of the era show cloth lettered in gilt); note that later thousand-count reprints appear in both cloth and printed wrappers, so binding alone does not establish priority — the title-page year and absence of a thousand-count statement do. Verify the correct year on EACH volume's title page (1920 / 1921 / 1922), since the volumes were published a year apart and later uniform reprints of the whole trilogy exist.

## Is this the true first?
The true first is the Norwegian-language original from H. Aschehoug & Co., Kristiania: Kransen (1920), Husfrue (1921), Korset (1922) — this is what serious collectors pursue. The first English-language edition was translated by Charles Archer and J. S. Scott (Scott collaborating only on the first volume) and published in the U.S. by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, in three volumes: The Bridal Wreath (Knopf, 1923; copyright "1923, by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc." per the transcribed title/copyright page), The Mistress of Husaby (1925), and The Cross (1927). The 1923 Knopf The Bridal Wreath is the first English printing of the trilogy's opening volume; British/one-volume and later Knopf issues followed in the 1920s–the printed price, so the New York Knopf volumes precede them.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Watch for cheap later reprints masquerading as significant. Aschehoug reprinted the Norwegian text heavily (thousand-counts running into the tens of thousands), and there are one-volume Norwegian "Kristin Lavransdatter" collected editions and Nobel-era reprints — none of these are the 1920–22 first. On the English side, the Knopf translation was reprinted for decades and cheaply reprinted by Grosset & Dunlap "by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf" (the widely digitized Project Gutenberg text of The Bridal Wreath is from a Grosset & Dunlap reprint — its title page reads "GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf" while retaining the 1923 Knopf copyright — not the 1923 Knopf first); a Grosset & Dunlap imprint or any elevated Knopf printing statement marks a reprint. The three-volumes-in-one omnibus editions (e.g., later collected volumes, and modern Penguin/Vintage sets with the Tiina Nunnally translation) are reader editions, not first printings. No true "book-club edition" issue is prominent for the original Norwegian first; the main traps are later Aschehoug thousand-count printings and post-1923 English reprints (notably the Grosset & Dunlap issue).

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Kristin Lavransdatter (Kransen / Husfrue / Korset)* by Sigrid Undset a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/kristin-lavransdatter
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.