Books

Sigmund Freud (2015) Interpreting Dreams , UK illustrated edition, published by The Folio Society (from the first printing). This comes with an original handwritten and signed postcard. The book: uses J. A. Underwood s magisterial 2006 translation, which follows the last German edition, the eighth that Freud prepared in his lifetime. It includes ten beautifully enigmatic oil paintings by Gabriella Boyd, an acclaimed artist currently studying for a postgraduate degree at the Royal Academy, and an indispensable introduction from Cambridge professor and psychoanalysis expert John Forrester, written in 2006. The book s production details: Bound in blocked cloth with an inset printed-paper label; set in Sabon with Minion display; 600 pages; frontispiece and 9 colour illustrations; plain slipcase Condition of the book: fine with no flaws whatsoever. The postcard: Autographed and Signed Postcard, 5.75″ x 4.25″ Penned in German, in the hand of Sigmund Freud, and signed as freud . Dated Wien 2.X.34 (Vienna 2 October 1934), and mailed to E. Kempster in Lugano Switzerland. Near fine with bold writing and strong vibrant ink. In January 1933, the Nazi Party took control of Germany, and Freud s books were prominent among those they burned and destroyed. Freud remarked to Ernest Jones: What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now, they are content with burning my books. Freud continued to underestimate the growing Nazi threat and remained determined to stay in Vienna, even following the Anschluss of 13 March 1938, in which Nazi Germany annexed Austria, and the outbreaks of violent antisemitism that ensued. This postcard was dated from 1934, during the final years Freud remained in Vienna. In Vienna during the 19th century, the script that was taught in schools was quite different from that in the non-German speaking parts of the world, and different as well from the German script of the present-day. This style of script is known as Kurrentschrift, and it was used in the same way that (some of us) use cursive today. Sigmund Freud, for instance, wrote letters, scribbled analyst s notes and signed his name, in Kurrentschrift. Although Freud is known to have signed his name in other ways, he often signed freud. The capital and lowercase F of Kurrentschrift are very similar in form, but not identical. The letter is shown translated below: I have received your lovely letter and thank you for it. Yours, Freud The postcard comes with the necessary paperwork. There is no doubt about the authenticity of the postcard and signature. Sigmund Freud is the father of modern psychoanalyis. Interpreting Dreams or Traumdeutung as it is known in its orginal German title is Freud s most popular work. Although the true first edition in German, published in late 1899, has not sold for almost a decade the book gained popularity and eight edition had been published in Freud s lifetime. First and Fine.

Die Traumdeutung, which translates as 'The Interpretation of Dreams', is one of the seminal works of psychoanalysis literature. Written by Sigmund Freud, it introduces his theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation and also discusses what would later become the theory of the Oedipus complex. Freud revised the book at least eight times and, in the third edition, added an extensive section which treated dream symbolism very literally, following the influence of Wilhelm Stekel.