This phrase appears to have been coined by Franklin.
1729. I am afraid she would resent it so as never to darken my doors again.—Benjamin Franklin, ‘The Busybody’: Works (1887), i. 341. (N.E.D.)
1748. Richardson’s ‘Clarissa.’ (N.E.D.)
1855. Tom Horsey has not darkened these doors since March gone was a year.—W. G. Simms, ‘Border Beagles,’ p. 34 (N.Y.).
1856. It will be long before I darken her doors again.—Knickerbocker Mag., xlviii. 417 (Oct.).
1866. He had no intention of ever darkening the door of Mr. Solomon Sharp’s store again.—Seba Smith, ‘’Way Down East,’ p. 230.
