DIE TRAUMDEUTUNG

Leipzig and Vienna: Franz Deuticke, 1900 [1899]. First Edition. Hardcover. Clean and fresh, inside and out. A few minor scratches to the leather. Near Fine and scarce. Bound in modern full blue morocco, not retaining the original wraps (6" x 8-1/2"); [iv], 371, [5] pages including table of contents and bibliography. With the motto after Virgil on the title page: “Flectere si nequeo superos, acheronta movebo” (“If heaven does not hear me, then I call hell to help”). The true first edition of THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS in the original German, considered the foundational work of psychoanalysis and containing the central theses and themes of Freudian theory, (truncated) including the unconscious (introduced here), repression, the Oedipus complex, the libido, early childhood sexuality, etc. Appearing in an edition of only 600 copies and published on 4 November 1899 (the publisher deliberately dated the title page to the 20th century), the book sold so slowly that a second edition was not needed until 1909. GARRISON-MORTON 4980; GROLIER MEDICINE 87; NORMAN F33; PRINTING AND THE MIND OF MAN 389: "Unquestionably Freud's greatest single work." (Inventory #: 021537)