“INSIGHT SUCH AS THIS FALLS TO ONE’S LOT BUT ONCE IN A LIFETIME”: SCARCE FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF FREUD’S MASTERPIECE

FREUD, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Authorised Translation of Third Edition with Introduction by A.A. Brill. New York: Macmillan, 1913. Octavo, original blue cloth gilt. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $6500.

First edition in English of arguably the greatest book in the history of psychoanalysis, a splendid copy.

"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). First published in German in 1899 (postdated on the title page as 1900, to mark the book's epochal significance), Die Traumdeutung has "ranked Freud with Darwin and Marx… This book remained for Freud his greatest achievement." He later wrote that it contains "'the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make. Insight such as this falls to one's lot but once in a lifetime" (Grolier 87). Here "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… Its modest reception belied the extraordinary impact it would come to have on 20th-century thought" (Norman-Stanford 33). First issue, with integral title leaf. Without the rare errata slip sometimes tipped in opposite page [1]. There were both English and American editions issued in 1913, using the same sheets, with no clear priority. Grinstein 227. See Garrison & Morton 4980; Horblit 32. Bookplate of American poet Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff.

Interior fresh with only modest discoloration to free endpapers, front inner paper hinge starting; original cloth with faint scrape mark on front cover and slight spine toning. A near-fine copy of this psychoanalytical landmark, rarely seen in such nice condition.