Freud: Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) was an Austrian neurologist who fundamentally revolutionized the human understanding of the mind by founding the discipline of psychoanalysis. Developing his theories in Vienna against the backdrop of late 19th and early 20th-century clinical psychiatry, Freud mapped the complex architecture of the human psyche by asserting the dominance of the unconscious mind. His groundbreaking work introducing free association, dream analysis, and the structural concepts of the id, ego, and superego profoundly destabilized traditional philosophy and western culture. Though highly controversial throughout his life and frequently challenged by contemporary scientific standards, his literary and clinical output permanently altered the vocabulary of everyday life and solidified his position as one of the most influential intellectual figures of the modern era.

Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psychoanalyse), first compiled and published in German between 1916 and 1917, stands as Freud's most comprehensive and accessible presentation of his core psychological theories. Delivering these twenty-eight lectures at the University of Vienna during World War I, Freud meticulously structured the text into three major thematic movements: the psychology of errors (parapraxes or "Freudian slips"), the mechanics of dreams, and the general theory of neuroses. The first authorized English-language edition, translated by Joan Riviere with a preface by Ernest Jones, was published in London by George Allen & Unwin Ltd. in 1922 as a 395-page volume bound in red cloth with gilt lettering.

Green canvas binding with silver lettering to spine. Residue to top corner of upper board. Original jacket. Green top edge. Blue ink inscription to preliminary flyleaf dated 1970. Fine condition.