Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie

Leipzig: Deuticke, 1905. FIRST EDITION. Original printed wrappers preserved in a clamshell box.. An excellent copy with the back strip redone. First edition of the work which Freud himself considered second in importance only to his Die Traumdeutung. Freud introduces here his epochal theory of infantile sexuality, which linked the forces motivating the development of body and mind from earliest infancy, a contribution of utmost value. Infantile sexuality was a fact known, Freud said, to every nursemaid, yet the Three essays provoked (and still provokes) considerable controversy in both scientific and popular sectors. The importance of the Three essays to Freud is underscored by the fact that it was the only book besides The interpretation of dreams that he submitted to constant revision, with six editions published in his lifetime.