Johan Anthon Abraham Fjeldsted Dahl (1 January 1807 – 16 March 1877) was a Norwegian bookseller and publisher. He was a patron of the arts and was co-founder of Oslo Kunstforening.

Personal life

Dahl was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

as the son of shoemaker John Dahl and Anne Kirstine Willumsen. He was married to singer and music teacher Emma Amalie Charlotte Freyse (1819–1896).

Career

Dahl started working for Gyldendalske Boghandel in

from he was 15 years old. In 1829 he moved to Christiania (now Oslo) Norway to help with

Jørgen Wright Cappelen Jørgen Wright Cappelen (10 August 1805 – 6 October 1878) was a Norwegian bookseller and publisher. He was one of the founders of the publishing house Cappelen Damm. Personal life Jørgen Wright Cappelen was born at Porsgrund, Norway as the nin ...

's new bookstore. In 1832 he established his own bookstore in Christiania, which came to be an important meeting place for the literary and cultural elite in the 1830s and 1840s. He also established a

publishing house Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. Among his published books were ''Amtmandens Døttre'' by

Camilla Collett Jacobine Camilla Collett (née Wergeland; 23 January 1813 – 6 March 1895) was a Norwegian writer, often referred to as the first Norwegian feminist. She was also the younger sister of Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland, and is recognized as bein ...

, ''Synnøve Solbakken'' by

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguishe ...

, and '' Kongs-Emnerne'' by Henrik Ibsen. A controversy occurred in 1836, when Dahl published

Andreas Munch Andreas Munch (19 October 1811 – 27 June 1884) was a Norwegian poet, novelist, playwright and newspaper editor. He was the first person to be granted a poet's pension by the Parliament of Norway. Personal life Munch was born in Christiania, as s ...

's poetry collection ''Ephemerer''. The police demanded that the book should be censored before its publication, while Dahl, in opposition to

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

, refused. The case eventually ended in a victory for Dahl in the Supreme Court. Dahl founded the newspaper '' Den Constitutionelle'' in 1836, with assistance from

Ulrik Anton Motzfeldt Ulrik Anton Motzfeldt (27 January 1807 – 10 July 1865) was a Norwegian jurist and politician. He served five terms in the Norwegian Parliament, including two years as President. He was also a professor at the University of Christiania and ...

and Carl Andreas Fougstad. He was a co-founder of the art gallery and art society Christiania Kunstforening (now Oslo Kunstforening) in 1836, along with

Johan Sebastian Welhaven Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven (22 December 1807 – 21 October 1873) was a Norwegian author, poet, critic, and art theorist. He has been considered "one of the greatest figures in Norwegian literature." Background Johan Welhaven was born ...

Frederik Stang Frederik Stang (4 March 1808 – 8 June 1884) was a Norwegian lawyer, public servant, and politician who served as Norway's 1st prime minister in Christiana. Stang was born on the Nordre Rostad farm at Stokke in Vestfold, Norway. He was the so ...

and Henrik Heftye. Dahl is immortalized through

Henrik Wergeland Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland (17 June 1808 – 12 July 1845) was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist. He is often described as a leading pioneer in the develop ...

's farce '' Papegøien'' (''The Parrot'') from 1835, where his course of life forms the basis for a wild parody. When Dahl learned about the farce, he offered to publish the book, something Wergeland found amusing and agreed to. But as a revenge Dahl put a label on the title page of the book, without Wergeland's knowledge, where it said that the complete profit was to be donated to charity.

Personal life

Career

References

Further reading