FIRST DANISH TRANSLATION OF "THE CAPITAL"

MARX, KARL.

Kapitalen. 2 Dele. Første Bind. Kapitalens Produktionsproces. Oversat efter Originalens tredje Oplag. 2. Kapitalens Cirkulationsproces.Udgivet efter Forfatterens Død af Friedrich Engels. [i.e. Danish "Das Kapital"].

København, (Copenhagen), 1885-87.

4to. In contemporary half cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Even browning as usual, due to the paper quality. An envelope pasted on to front free end-paper containing Danish articles on Marx. Previous owner's name to title-pages. A fine and clean copy with both half-titles present ("Socialistisk Bibliotek" Vol. IV-V). Vol 1: (2), 473, (1); Vol 2: VII; (1); (4), 363, (1) pp.

First edition of the first Danish translation of "Das Kapital". The translation is remarkable in several respects - the Danish Social-democratic party was one of the first labour organizations in the world to publish the two volumes of "The Capital", the translation of the first volume preceded both the English and the Italian, and the translation of the second volume is the second in the world to appear, only preceded by the Russian from 1885 - furthermore, these two translations were the only two to appear of volume two until after Engels' death in 1895.

After having been in a serious crisis at the end of the 1870'ies, the labour movement in Denmark turned things around in the 1880'ies, primarily with the aid of Marx. Marx' theories and his connection between theoretical and practical politics became the foundation for the Social Democrats. In 1884, the Danish Social Democratic Party got its two first members of parliament elected, and many workers wished to become politically active. Also in Denmark, the class struggle had properly begun.

As Marx was the foundation for the beginning success of the Social Democrats, the Party decided that it would translate and publish all the most important works by Marx - of course most importantly "The Capital". This translation was to become "a new and powerful weapon for the Danish Labour Party in the agitation for the socialist principles".
The translation of "The Capital" was made by the linguist and journalist Hans Vilhelm Lund (1840-1893), who worked at the paper Social-Demokraten in the 1880'ies and 90'ies. The translation is famed for being extremely true to the original and virtually flawless.

In order to reach as wide a relevant audience as possible, the price was kept as low as it could be. It still constituted a full day's wages for a skilled worker, namely 2 kroner - still about 1/7 of the German edition. In spite of all the efforts to distribute the translation, it did not become a bestseller, and in 1911, the remainders were issued with a new title-page in 1911.

(PMM 359 - first edition).

Order-nr.: 55207