Published by Zürich, 1958
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
First Edition Signed
Unbound. Condition: Fine. Two page Typed Letter Signed in typed mailing envelope. Signed "Dr. med. Olga Rorschach." Text in English. The letters are folded for mailing else fine. The envelope is very good with some toning and wear. Dr. Rorschach writes to G[abriel]. Pustel in response to two letters he wrote her, apparently while writing a book or article on her late husband. She begins by describing the difficulty in having the letters translated from German (by her daughter) and her response translated back into English. She goes on to answer several questions about her late husband, inventor of the Rorschach inkblot test: she states that he did not know Freud and clears up an error (not stated here) regarding Rorschach's relationship with the psychologist Theodore Weiss; she states that the reports of the tests her husband set up himself are with her son and, as she is getting old and he is overworked (he was a medical doctor), these would be difficult to acquire; and she also has rather strong words regarding noted psychiatrist and medical historian Dr. Henri F. Ellenberger, who wrote a biography of Rorschach first published in *Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic* in 1954. She writes: "As to Dr. Ellenberger, he did not know my husband. Unfortunately, [he] has not always followed the real facts, and when I read his article, I was rather annoyed at certain passages. His information about the death of my husband especially is confused and misleading; my husband was never depressive, he said yes to life, his attitude was courageous and confident." She goes on to talk a bit about Hermann Rorschach, who died young and almost unknown, aged 37: "He was artistically gifted, but he had no feminine traits in him. Hs attitude toward life and the world was emotional. He was very gifted for languages. He was no sportsman, but he was a good swimmer. ." Dr. Rorschach writes that she is including an article she wrote about her husband and asks he return it, as it is the family's only copy. (The article is not present here; hopefully he returned it.) She requests a copy of his "study " of her husband, and closes by asking that he write it "according to the established facts, without venturing mere conjectures, as unfortunately Dr. Ellenberger did in certain parts." An interesting letter about a major figure in 20th Century psychology, written by his wife.