AUGUST STRINDBERG, “The Free Thinker, Dramatic Draft”, Stockholm 1870, first edition, published under the pseudonym “Härverd Ulf”, on the cover with the author's dedication to Frans Hedberg “Frans Hedberg med vördnad och grataf af” booklet.

Approx 22.5x14 cm

History: The Freethinker is the earliest extant of Strindberg's dramas and also his first printed book. It was rejected by Dramaten and fell into oblivion. It premiered at Strindberg's Intima Theatre in 2003.

Frans Hedberg (1828-1908) was active as a writer, actor and theatre director. As a playwright, Frans Hedberg had a huge output both as a writer and translator of other people's works. The young August Strindberg was an acting pupil of Frans Hedberg and it is believed that the latter to some extent gave impetus to some of the former's early works. Hedberg's 1867 play “En odåga” is likely to have contributed to how Strindberg's “The Free Thinker” was conceived.

Hedberg is the surname of a family with an interesting composition of cultural personalities active in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first more prominent person in the family is the writer and actor Frans Hedberg (1828-1908) enormously prolific mainly as a playwright. Frans was married to actress Amanda Broman and in their children's family the artistic vein continues. Mix
These include the writer and playwright Tor Hedberg (1862-1931) who was, among other things, director of drama and curator at Thielska Galleriet. A brother of him was the artist Bengt Hedberg and a sister the translator Walborg Hedberg. The business community is also represented in the family in the form of the company leader Nils Hedberg and his son Sven, who was an engineer. This theme auction contains items inherited from different parts of the family, some of them all the way from Frans Hedberg who is the great-grandfather of Jan Hedberg whose items are sold here as “Hedbergiana”.

To take a closer look at this product on a visit, make an appointment through info.sickla@auktionsverket.com.