FIRST ICELANDIC TRANSLATION OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO

MARX, KARL (+) FRIEDRICH ENGELS

Kommúnistaávarpið [i.e. Icelandic: "The Communist Manifesto"]

Akureyri, Jafnaðarmannafélagið [i.e. Icelandic: "the Socialist association"]

12mo. (105 x 167 mm). Original printed red wrappers, slightly sunned. Stapled block. No staining or spotting of any kind. Apart from the sunfading, mainly to back wrapper, in near mint condition. 75, (1) pp. + 1 f. (contents).


First edition of the scarce first Icelandic translation of The Communist Manifesto. Translated by Stefán Pjetursson (1898-1987) and Einar Olgeirsson (1902-1993), who were at the time studying in Berlin. Together with Brynjólfur Bjarnason (1898-1989), they were among the main leaders of Icelandic communists in the second and third decades of the 20th century.

After returning to Iceland, Pjetursson worked as a journalist, and later as editor and archivist. In 1930, Pjetursson went to Moscow, where he was placed in the Inernational Lenin School, but he was expelled by the Comintern leadership, on the grounds that he was doing a poor job of retraining. He had been in contact with the Danish embassy and received a forged passport, which allowed him to return to Iceland throuh Finland.

Upon his return to Akureyri, Olgeirsson worked as a teacher, writer, editor and later as a politician and member of Parliament. He was one of the co-founders of the Communist Party of Iceland in 1930 but was nearly expelled in the early 1930s for working closely with other political forces: he played the main role in the merger of the Communist Party of Iceland and another splinter group from the Social Democratic Party into the Socialist Party – of which he was chairman (1938–1968) – later merged into the People's Alliance. 

Order-nr.: 63244

DKK 15.000,00