“THE SINGLE GREATEST BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS”: FIRST EDITION OF FREUD’S DIE TRAUMDEUTUNG, THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS
FREUD, Sigmund. Die Traumdeutung. Leipzig und Wien: Franz Deuticke, 1900. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter brown calf, raised bands, marbled boards, patterned endpapers.
First edition of “the single greatest book in the history of psychoanalysis” (Norman-Stanford, 9)—one of only 600 copies printed. Scarce and desirable, especially so in contemporary binding.
“Unquestionably Freud’s greatest single work. It contains all the basic components of psychoanalytic theory and practice: the erotic nature of dreams, the ‘Oedipus complex,’ the libido, and the rest; all related to the background of the ‘unconscious,’ later to be called the ‘sub-conscious” (PMM 389). “Die Traumdeutung contains Freud’s general theory of the psyche… Although this was his first major work on normal psychology, Freud gave an unprecedented precision and force to the idea of the essential similarities of normal and abnormal behavior, opening up the door to the irrational that had been closed to Western psychology since the time of Locke. Only 600 copies of the first edition of Die Traumdeutung were printed… Its modest reception belied the extraordinary impact it would come to have on 20th-century thought” (Norman F33). Text in German. Garrison-Morton 4980. Grolier 32. Bookbinder ticket. Owner ink stamp to title page of Dr. Ebstein of Eisenach, who wrote a 1906 work on the curative qualities of the Eisenach waters (and thus is likely the first owner). A few minor marginal markings in pencil.
Text clean. Extremities of contemporary calf rubbed, joints tender but sound. An extremely good copy of this landmark work.