Freud, Sigmund | Postcards to the leader of the psychoanalytic movement in the United States

Freud, Sigmund

Group of four postcards, variously dated, to Sandor Radó, one of Freud's original followers, and the leader of the psychoanalytic movement in the United States 

4 postcards (from: 90 x 135 mm; to: 120 x 150 mm). In German, some cards partially, others with autograph manuscript annotations in the hand of Freud, each signed ("Freud"), dated 20 June 1928, 20 December 1928, May 1931, and May 1936; one or two minor creases to corners. [With:] 2 envelops addressed in the hand of Freud; one or two closed tears, instances of very minor soiling. 

"THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THE CELEBRATION OF MY EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY"

This group of postcards—primarily thank you notes—were sent to Sandor Radó by Sigmund Freud. While brief, the present group correspondence speaks to the long and fecund relationship that existed between the two men.

Radó, who was born in Hungary in 1890, was completing a doctorate in political science when he came across a paper by Sandor Ferenczi, one of Freud's leading proponents in Budapest. The paper in question, “Analysis of the Soul,” argued that the then emerging field of psychoanalysis could provide the answer to many of the questions surrounding why people behave in the manner they do. Following this discovery, Radó read every one of Freud's publications, and was determined to become a doctor, specializing in psychoanalysis, of course, an ambition he more than fulfilled (see the following four lots).