January 26th Rare Autograph & Book Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/26/2023
TLS in German, signed "Freud," one page, 5.75 x 8.75, personal letterhead, September 13, 1924.
(Translated): To "Dear Doctor". Freud writes: "It is true that visits still tire me very much, but your wish for a conversation concurs with mine, because I have decided to resign from the leadership of the group; I would like to hear your opinion about the consequences. When should this conversation take place? The next week is completely unsuitable for me since my physicians are coming back, and I do not know of any day when I will be here or in Vienna; when I am in Vienna it is always difficult for me to be on time for the train for my return. But in 14 days we will move to Vienna and I suggest to you to plan your visit perhaps for one of the last days of this month. I am very happy about the success of your work in Stuttgart, and I send you my best regards. Yours, Freud"
In fine condition, with intersecting folds, light wrinkling, and toning to the top edge. Accompanied by a plaque engraved with the translation. This letter comes from a watershed period of Freud's life-he was both at the height of his career and the beginning of his demise. A year earlier he had published the enormously influential work The Ego and the Id, and just a few weeks after writing this letter he appeared on the cover of Time magazine, his ideas finally reaching the mainstream recognition he had been working toward for two decades. However, he had also been found to have cancer of the jaw in 1923 and was in a weakening state of health, with 30 operations over the next 13 years. It is highly probable that this letter references his 'Inner Circle' or 'Secret Committee,' a group of his most trusted followers. By 1924 there was significant tension and dissension in the ranks, effectively fracturing the group for good and resulting in its dissolution in 1926.
Sigmund Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies in the psyche through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.
With One of a Kind Collectibles LOA.
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