A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis: Authorized Translation with a Preface by G. Stanley Hall.

FREUD, Sigmund.

Published by New York: Boni and Liveright, 1920

About this Item

First English-language edition, inscribed on the front free endpaper by the author's nephew: "Pleasant Dreams - To a real friend from a real friend, Edward L. Bernays, Nov. 19, 1920". Bernays worked for Boni & Liveright at the time and was responsible for convincing the company director to publish the General Introduction to Psychoanalysis. In 1920, Freud was known in the US, but his work had only appeared in journals and medical compendiums; no single volume summarized his work. Bernays, who was the son of Freud's sister Anna, considered it a familial responsibility to publish his uncle's book for a wider audience, and suggested to Boni & Liveright director Horace Liveright that the company publish the General Introduction in English. Liveright had been impressed with Bernays's work and instincts and agreed, despite the reservations of his staff about the book's sexual content. The English-language General Introduction was a slow but steady success, selling over 20,000 copies by the end of the decade. It dramatically improved Freud's reputation in America, transforming him from "a Viennese physician with curious ideas about sexual behaviour into a seminal figure in modern thought - it gained him a high degree of respect he had heretofore only obtained from professionals in the field" (Dardis, p. 118). Grinstein 244. Tom Dardis, The Life of Horace Liveright, 1995. Octavo. Frontispiece "The Dream of the Prisoner" after the painting by Moritz von Schwind. Original blue cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt. Contemporary pencil ownership inscription to front free endpaper: "N. B. Chase". Spine sunned, lettering dulled, extremities rubbed with occasional spots of wear, scattered foxing to endpapers, front endpapers offset, contents clean: a very good copy.

Seller Inventory # 186189

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis: Authorized Translation with a Preface by G. Stanley Hall.
• Publisher: New York: Boni and Liveright, 1920
• Edition: 1st Edition