HISTORY, SCIENCE & PHILOSOPHY 86 “Insight Such As This Falls To One’s Lot But Once In A Lifetime” 93FREUD, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. New York, 1913. Octavo, original blue cloth gilt. $4800 First edition in English of arguably the greatest book in the history of psychoanalysis. “Unquestionably Freud’s greatest single work. It contains all the basic components of psychoanalytic theory and practice: the erotic nature of dreams, the ‘Oedipus complex,’ the libido and the rest; all related to the background of the ‘unconscious’” (PMM 389). First published in German in 1899, Die Traumdeutung has “ranked Freud with Darwin and Marx… This book remained for Freud his greatest achievement.” He later wrote that it contains “’the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make. Insight such as this falls to one’s lot but once in a lifetime” (Grolier 87). First issue, with integral title page. Without the rare errata slip tipped in opposite page [1]. There were both English and American editions issued in 1913, using the same sheets, with no clear priority. Interior fresh, with only modest discoloration to free endpapers; original cloth with mild wear to spine ends and rear panel. An extremely good copy. “For Then We Would Know The Mind Of God” 94HAWKING, Stephen. A Brief History of Time. Toronto, 1988. Octavo, original half black cloth, dust jacket. $1900 First edition, first Canadian issue, issued simultaneously with the New York and London issues, of Hawking’s popular treatment of quantum physics. Although his editor cautioned Hawking that every equation included in the text would cut the book’s readership in half, this “jaunty overview of key cosmological ideas, past and present—including multidimensional space, the inflationary universe and the cosmic fates that may befall us” (New York Times) quickly established itself as a landmark of modern popular science writing. Hawking withdrew the first issue of the book and had it destroyed due to errors. An unknown but very small number of first-issue copies, as here, have survived, such as those distributed for advance review. “Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada” stated on copyright page. A fine copy.
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