Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 2176

SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) Die Traumdeutung. F. Deuticke 1900 [4] 371 [4] pp. 22.4 cm.

Freud must be considered one of the most significant figures of the twentieth century. Certainly no scientist before or after him has had as much impact on the understanding of human and social behavior, and his work remains the basis for much of modern psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. His intellect and creativity remained active over a lifetime of more than eighty years during which he made striking and original discoveries, the import of which is still being felt. Freud was born at Freiberg in Moravia and entered the University of Vienna as a medical student in 1873. He was graduated in 1881 and continued his studies at Vienna's General Hospital in order to qualify for private practice. While at the hospital he worked in the division of internal medicine and later in the psychiatric clinic under the well-known neuroanatomist, Theodor Meynert (see No. 1987). In 1885, he spent several months in Paris studying under Jean Martin Charcot (see No. 1918 ff.). As a result of his work with Charcot, Freud decided to abandon his laboratory researches into the anatomy of the nervous system in favor of clinical work on nervous disorders. During the years from 1892 to 1895, he developed his psychoanalytical method using the technique of free association. From 1895 to 1906 he worked largely in semi-isolation because he was heavily criticized and ostracized by his colleagues in the medical profession. Nevertheless, by 1906 he was beginning to attract enthusiastic followers and supporters and soon thereafter the first psychoanalytic congress was held in Salzburg. The cancer that later caused his death was first discovered in 1923, and, in 1938, Freud moved to London when the Nazis occupied Austria. Die Traumdeutung ("The interpretation of dreams") was considered by Freud to be his most significant work. It contains the beginnings of the psychoanalytic theories which he elaborated in later works, including the relationship between dreams and the deeper layers of the subconscious mind. This first edition was printed in limited numbers and is now quite scarce.

See Related Record(s): 1987 1918

Cited references: Cushing F331; Osler 2680 (English tr., 1913)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.