_First printed (Collected Edition)_ 1908 _Second Impression_ 1910 _Copyright_ 1908 _by William Heinemann_ CONTENTS PAGE GENERAL PREFACE vii INTRODUCTION TO “LADY INGER OF ÖSTRÅT” xvii INTRODUCTION TO “THE FEAST AT SOLHOUG” xxxiii INTRODUCTION TO “LOVE’S COMEDY” xxxvii “LADY INGER OF ÖSTRÅT” 1 _Translated by_ CHARLES ARCHER “THE FEAST AT SOLHOUG” 181 _Translated by_ WILLIAM ARCHER and MARY MORISON “LOVE’S COMEDY” 285 _Translated by_ C. H. HERFORD GENERAL PREFACE The eleven volumes of this edition contain all, save one, of the dramas which Henrik Ibsen himself admitted to the canon of his works. The one exception is his earliest, and very immature, tragedy, _Catilina_, first published in 1850, and republished in 1875. This play is interesting in the light reflected from the poet’s later achievements, but has little or no inherent value. A great part of its interest lies in the very crudities of its style, which it would be a thankless task to reproduce in translation. Moreover, the poet impaired even its biographical value by largely rewriting it before its republication. He did not make it, or attempt to make it, a better play, but he in some measure corrected its juvenility of expression. Which version, then, should a translator choose? To go back to the original would seem a deliberate disregard of the poet’s wishes; while, on the other hand, the retouched version is clearly of far inferior interest. It seemed advisable, therefore, to leave the play alone, so far as this edition was concerned. Still more clearly did it appear unnecessary to include _The Warrior’s Barrow_ and _Olaf Liliekrans_, two early plays which were never admitted to any edition prepared by the poet himself. They were included in a Supplementary Volume of the Norwegian collected edition, issued in 1902, when Ibsen’s life-work was over. They have even less intrinsic value than _Catilina_, and ought certainly to be kept apart from the works by which he desired to be remembered. A fourth youthful production, _St. John’s Night_, remains to this day in manuscript. Not even German piety has dragged it to light.