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Mesnard, Pierre.
Kierkegaard
Paris, Presses universitaires de France 1970 1 in -8 Broché couverture Illustrée 102[p.p]
Reference : LCI-4204
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5 book(s) with the same title
Om Begrebet Ironi med stadigt hensyn til Socrates. Af S. A. Kierkegaard. - [A TRULY SPLENDID, COMPLETELY FRESH COPY IN THE DAINTIEST OF THE GIFT-BINDINGS]
Kjøbenhavn, P.G. Philipsens Forlag, 1841. 8vo. (8), 350 pp. Gift binding of elaborately blindpatterned full cloth with single gilt line-border to boards and single gilt lines to spine. All edges gilt and printed on fine paper. The slightest touch of wear to corners and capitals, but apart from that a complete fresh, clean, bright and tight copy. It looks like it has hardly been opened and seems like it just came from the binder. No markings of any kind.
A truly splendid copy of the first edition of Kierkegaard's dissertation, being a completely fresh copy in the daintiest of the gift-bindings, presumably one of the two daintily bound copies that Kierkegaard had in his own collection (nr. 2110-11 in the auction catalogue). The copy is with the Thesis, and both the day and the time has been filled in by hand. Kierkegaard's dissertationconstitutes the culmination of three years’ intensive studies of Socrates and “the true point of departure for Kierkegaard’s authorship” (Brandes). The work is of the utmost importance in Kierkegaard’s production, not only as his first academic treatise, but also because he here introduces several themes that will be addressed in his later works. Among these we find the question of defining the subject of cognition and self-knowledge of the subject. The maxim of “know thyself” will be a constant throughout his oeuvre, as is the theory of knowledge acquisition that he deals with here. The dissertation is also noteworthy in referencing many of Hegel’s theses in a not negative context, something that Kierkegaard himself would later note with disappointment and characterize as an early, uncritical use of Hegel. Another noteworthy feature is the fact that the thesis is written in Danish, which was unheard of at the time. Kierkegaard felt that Danish was a more suitable language for the thesis and hadto petition the King to be granted permission to submit it in Danish rather than Latin. This in itself poses as certain irony, as the young Kierkegaard was known to express himself poorly and very long-winded in written Danish. One of Kierkegaard’s only true friends, his school friend H.P. Holst recounts (in 1869) how the two had a special school friendship and working relationship, in which Kierkegaard wrote Latin compositions for Holst, while Holst wrote Danish compositions for Kierkegaard, who “expressed himself in a hopelessly Latin Danish crawling with participial phrases and extraordinarily complicatedsentences” (Garff, p. 139). When Kierkegaard, in 1838, was ready to publish his famous piece on Hans Christian Andersen (see nr. 1 & 2 above), which was to appear in Heiberg’s journal Perseus, Heiberg had agreed to publish the piece, although he had some severe critical comments about the way and the form in which it was written – if it were to appear in Perseus, Heiberg demanded, at the very least, the young Kierkegaard would have to submit it in a reasonably readable Danish. “Kierkegaard therefore turned to his old schoolmate H. P. Holst and asked him to do something with the language…” (Garff, p. 139). From their school days, Holst was well aware of the problem with Kierkegaard’s Danish, and he recounts that over the summer, he actually “translated” Kierkegaard’s article on Andersen into proper Danish. The oral defense was conducted in Latin, however. The judges all agreed that the work submitted was both intelligent and noteworthy. But they were concerned about its style, which was found to be both tasteless, long-winded, and idiosyncratic. We already here witness Kierkegaard’s idiosyncratic approach to content and style that is so characteristic for all of his greatest works. Both stylistically and thematically, Kierkegaard’s and especially a clear precursor for his magnum opus Either-Or that is to be his next publication. In many ways, Either-Or is born directly out of The Concept of Irony and is the work that brings the theory of Irony to life. Part One of the dissertation concentrates on Socrates as interpreted by Xenophon, Plato, and Aristophanes, with a word on Hegel and Hegelian categories. Part Two is a more synoptic discussion of the concept of irony in Kierkegaard’s categories, with examples from other philosophers. The work constitutes Kierkegaard’s attempt at understanding the role of irony in disrupting society, and with Socrates understood through Kierkegaard, we witness a whole new way of interpreting the world before us. Wisdom is not necessarily fixed, and we ought to use Socratic ignorance to approach the world without the inherited bias of our cultures. With irony, we will be able to embrace the not knowing. We need to question the world knowing we may not find an answer. The moment we stop questioning and just accept the easy answers, we succumb to ignorance. We must use irony to laugh at ourselves in order to improve ourselves and to laugh at society in order to improve the world. The work was submitted to the Philosophical Faculty at the University of Copenhagen on June 3rd 1841. Kierkegaard had asked for his dissertation to be ready from the printer’s in ample time for him to defend it before the new semester commenced. This presumably because he had already planned his sojourn to Berlin to hear the master philosopher Schelling. On September 16th, the book was issued, and on September 29th, the defense would take place. The entire defense, including a two hour long lunch break, took seven hours, during which ”an unusually full auditorium” would listen to the official opponents F.C. Sibbern and P.O. Brøndsted as well as the seven “ex auditorio” opponents F.C. Petersen, J.L. Heiberg, P.C. Kierkegaard, Fr. Beck, F.P.J. Dahl, H .J.Thue og C.F. Christens, not to mention Kierkegaard himself. The work appeared in two states – one with the four pages of “Theses”, for academics of the university, whereas the copies without the theses were intended for ordinary sale. These sales copies also do not have “Udgivet for Magistergraden” and “theologisk Candidat” on the title-page. The first page of the theses always contains the day “XXIX” of September written in hand, and sometimes the time “hora X” is also written in hand, but not always. In all, 11 presentation-copies of the dissertation are known, and of these only one is signed (that for Holst), all the others merely state the title and name of the recipient. As is evident from the auction catalogue of his collection, Kierkegaard had a number of copies of his dissertation in his possession when he died. Five of them were bound, and two of them were “nit. M. Guldsnit” (i.e. daintily bound and with gilt edges). These two copies were obviously meant as presentation-copies that he then never gave away. The gift copies of the dissertation were given two types of bindings, both brownish cloth, one type patterned, the other one plain, and some of them have gilt edges, but most of the plain ones do not. There exist two copies on thick vellum paper – one being Kierkegaard’s own copy, the other being the copy for H.C. Ørsted, discoverer of electromagnetism and then principle of the University of Copenhagen. “As already implied, two works of the authorship stand out in the sense that Kierkegaard sent his presentation-copies to a special circle of people: The dissertation from 1841...” (Posselt, Textspejle, p. 91, translated from Danish). Most of the copies were given to former teachers and especially to people who, due to leading positions, personified the university. “For this circle of initiated we can now, due to registered copies, confirm that Kierkegaard gave copies with handwritten dedications to the headmaster of the University H.C. Ørsted (printed on thick paper), Kolderup-Rosenvinge and to J.L. Heiberg. It is granted that Sibbern, Madvig and F.C. Petersen were also given the dissertation as a gift,... but these copies are not known (yet).” (Posselt, Textspejle, pp. 93-94, translated fromDanish). (N.b. We have since handled the copy given to Petersen and can thus confirm that it exists). Only a few months after Kierkegaard died (11th of November 1855), at the beginning of April 1856, his books were put up for sale. The sale was an event which created stir among scholars all over Denmark, and the event drew large crowds. Everyone wanted a piece of the recently deceased legend, and bidding was lively. The average price for the single items was nearly a rix-dollar, a very high price for that time. As the old Herman Lynge wrote in a letter on the 22nd of May (The Royal Library, Recent Letters, D.), to the famous collector F.S. Bang, “At the sale of Dr. Søren Kierkegaard’s books everything went at very high prices, especially his own works, which brought 2 or 3 times the published prices”.” (Rohde Auction Catalogue, p. LVIJ). Many authors, philosophers, and scholars were present in the auction room, which was completely full, as was the Royal Library, who bought ca 80 lots. “Many of the books, not only his own, were paid for with much higher prices than in the book shops” (In Morgenposten no. 99, 30. April 1856, written by “P.”, translated from Danish). ""Some books were bought by libraries where they still are today, others were bought by private people, who sometimes wrote their names in the front of the books and thus, indirectly, stated that they came from Kierkegaard’s book collection… The edition (of the auction catalogue, 1967) registers all books from Kierkegaard’s book collection that it has hitherto been possible to identify – either in public or in private ownership… All in all, nearly a couple of hundred volumes – i.e. ca. 10 % – of the Kierkegaardian book collection is said to be rediscovered…"" (Rohde). Thus, today, books from Kierkegaard’s library are of the utmost scarcity. Only very few are still possible to acquire, and they hardly ever appear on the market. Himmelstrup 8
Om Begrebet Ironi med stadigt hensyn til Socrates. Af S. A. Kierkegaard. - [KIERKEGAARD’S DISSERTATION IN THE ORIGINAL BINDING, WHICH IS OF THE UTMOST SCARCITY.]
Kjøbenhavn, P.G. Philipsens Forlag, 1841. 8vo. (4), 350 pp., 1 f. (blank), 2 pp. (advertisements). Completely uncut and partly unopened in the original brown cardboard binding. Rebacked with paper perfectly matching that of the boards. Corners restored. Title-page evenly browned and a few leaves with a bit of brownspotting, but overall in unusually nice condition, clean, fresh, and bright. Completely unmarked.
A fabulous copy of the first edition of Kierkegaard’s dissertation, here in the original binding, which is of the utmost scarcity. We have only seen it in this state once before. And of all the copies we have handled of the Irony over the last decades, we have only once before come across a copy with the advertisement-leaf in the back. This is virtually never present. This completely uncut copy is approximately 1 cm taller and wider than regular copies. The spines of the original Kierkegaard cardboard bindings are always just thin paper directly glued on the block, making them extremely fragile, especially on the thicker volumes. If one finds these original bindings, the spines are almost always more or less disintegrated. Kierkegaard's dissertation constitutes the culmination of three years’ intensive studies of Socrates and “the true point of departure for Kierkegaard’s authorship” (Brandes). The work is of the utmost importance in Kierkegaard’s production, not only as his first academic treatise, but also because he here introduces several themes that will be addressed in his later works. Among these we find the question of defining the subject of cognition and self-knowledge of the subject. The maxim of “know thyself” will be a constant throughout his oeuvre, as is the theory of knowledge acquisition that he deals with here. The dissertation is also noteworthy in referencing many of Hegel’s theses in a not negative context, something that Kierkegaard himself would later note with disappointment and characterize as an early, uncritical use of Hegel. Another noteworthy feature is the fact that the thesis is written in Danish, which was unheard of at the time. Kierkegaard felt that Danish was a more suitable language for the thesis and hadto petition the King to be granted permission to submit it in Danish rather than Latin. This in itself poses as certain irony, as the young Kierkegaard was known to express himself poorly and very long-winded in written Danish. One of Kierkegaard’s only true friends, his school friend H.P. Holst recounts (in 1869) how the two had a special school friendship and working relationship, in which Kierkegaard wrote Latin compositions for Holst, while Holst wrote Danish compositions for Kierkegaard, who “expressed himself in a hopelessly Latin Danish crawling with participial phrases and extraordinarily complicatedsentences” (Garff, p. 139). When Kierkegaard, in 1838, was ready to publish his famous piece on Hans Christian Andersen (see nr. 1 & 2 above), which was to appear in Heiberg’s journal Perseus, Heiberg had agreed to publish the piece, although he had some severe critical comments about the way and the form in which it was written – if it were to appear in Perseus, Heiberg demanded, at the very least, the young Kierkegaard would have to submit it in a reasonably readable Danish. “Kierkegaard therefore turned to his old schoolmate H. P. Holst and asked him to do something with the language…” (Garff, p. 139). From their school days, Holst was well aware of the problem with Kierkegaard’s Danish, and he recounts that over the summer, he actually “translated” Kierkegaard’s article on Andersen into proper Danish. The oral defense was conducted in Latin, however. The judges all agreed that the work submitted was both intelligent and noteworthy. But they were concerned about its style, which was found to be both tasteless, long-winded, and idiosyncratic. We already here witness Kierkegaard’s idiosyncratic approach to content and style that is so characteristic for all of his greatest works. Both stylistically and thematically, Kierkegaard’s and especially a clear precursor for his magnum opus Either-Or that is to be his next publication. The year 1841 is a momentous one in Kierkegaard’s life. It is the year that he completes his dissertation and commences his sojourn in Berlin, but it is also the defining year in his personal life, namely the year that he breaks off his engagement with Regine Olsen. And finally, it is the year that he begins writing Either-Or. In many ways, Either-Or is born directly out of The Concept of Irony and is the work that brings the theory of Irony to life. Part One of the dissertation concentrates on Socrates as interpreted by Xenophon, Plato, and Aristophanes, with a word on Hegel and Hegelian categories. Part Two is a more synoptic discussion of the concept of irony in Kierkegaard’s categories, with examples from other philosophers. The work constitutes Kierkegaard’s attempt at understanding the role of irony in disrupting society, and with Socrates understood through Kierkegaard, we witness a whole new way of interpreting the world before us. Wisdom is not necessarily fixed, and we ought to use Socratic ignorance to approach the world without the inherited bias of our cultures. With irony, we will be able to embrace the not knowing. We need to question the world knowing we may not find an answer. The moment we stop questioning and just accept the easy answers, we succumb to ignorance. We must use irony to laugh at ourselves in order to improve ourselves and to laugh at society in order to improve the world. The work was submitted to the Philosophical Faculty at the University of Copenhagen on June 3rd 1841. Kierkegaard had asked for his dissertation to be ready from the printer’s in ample time for him to defend it before the new semester commenced. This presumably because he had already planned his sojourn to Berlin to hear the master philosopher Schelling. On September 16th, the book was issued, and on September 29th, the defense would take place. The entire defense, including a two hour long lunch break, took seven hours, during which ”an unusually full auditorium” would listen to the official opponents F.C. Sibbern and P.O. Brøndsted as well as the seven “ex auditorio” opponents F.C. Petersen, J.L. Heiberg, P.C. Kierkegaard, Fr. Beck, F.P.J. Dahl, H .J.Thue og C.F. Christens, not to mention Kierkegaard himself. Two weeks later, on October 12th, Kierkegaard broke off his engagement with Regine Olsen (for the implications of this event, see the section about Regine in vol. II). The work appeared in two states – one with the four pages of “Theses”, for academics of the university, whereas the copies without the theses were intended for ordinary sale. These sales copies also do not have “Udgivet for Magistergraden” and “theologisk Candidat” on the title-page. The present copy is one of the sales-copies without theses. Himmelstrup 8 The present copy is no. 11 in Girsel's ""Kierkegaard"" (The Catalogue) which can be found here.
Atten opbyggelige Taler af S. Kierkegaard. - [EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE IN THE ORIGINAL BINDING, WITH THE ORIGINAL TITLE-LABEL]
Kjøbenhavn, Philipsen, 1843-45. 8vo. (4), 52 + 62 (+ 1 blank leaf) + 84 + 59 (including the blank leaf between the title-page and the preface!) + 70 (+ 1 blank leaf) + 111 pp. Completely uncut in the original brownish grey boards with original printed title-label to spine (fully intact). Boards a bit brownspotted and a larger damp stain to top of front board. A couple of smaller stains (lacquer or wax) to spine. A few horizontal creases to spine with paper almost invisibly glued back on to hold tight. Occasional brownspotting, mostly to the first and last leaves. But overall splendidly preserved.
A truly magnificent copy of the first edition of this very scarce Kierkegaard-title, in completely original condition with all of the original printed title-label preserved, and fully complete with the joint title-page, contents, all the half-titles, dedications, blanks, etc. This Kierkegaard-title is rare in itself, with much less than 278 copies printed in all, but it is utterly amazing to find this exceedingly rare book in original state like here. Only very few copies are left in the original binding, which we have only seen once before. The spines of the original Kierkegaard cardboard bindings are always just thin paper directly glued on the block, making them extremely fragile. If one finds these original bindings, the spines are almost always more or less disintegrated. The present copy is a rare exception that furthermore has the original title-label, which is of the utmost scarcity. To our knowledge, only one other copy in the original binding has been located. Apart from the other copy we have seen of this work in the original binding, the present copy is also the only original Kierkegaard-binding we have seen that is not in the usual blue “hollanderet” cardboard binding, but plain brown. No other such copy has been registered for sale, and no other such copy, to our knowledge, is registered in any institution. Furthermore, this seems to be the only copy to have surfaced so far, which has preserved the original printed title-label in its entirety. As far as we know, it has been recorded no-where, due to its extreme scarcity. Kierkegaard’s Upbuilding (or Edifying) Discourses were published over the course of two years, in 1843 and 1844. In all, 18 Upbuilding Discourses were published, divided over six publications, namely: Two Upbuilding Discourses from 1843 Three Upbuilding Discourses from 1843 Four Upbuilding Discourses from 1843 Two Upbuilding Discourses from 1844 Three Upbuilding Discourses from 1844 Four Upbuilding Discourses from 1844 Each of these publications accompanied one of the main pseudonymous works, beginning with Either-Or in 1843. As opposed to his major philosophical works, the religious upbuilding discourses actually bear the name of the author on the title-page. Of course, this was by no means incidental. While the pseudonymous works could raise the question of the religiousness of the author, the parallelly written religious discourses stress the fact that we are dealing with an author, who was religious from the very beginning – an essential fact that Kierkegaard wished to stress for those interested in his authorship. In his journals, Kierkegaard clearly states that the religious discourses are as significant in his oeuvre as a whole as are the larger pseudonymous works, “I began with “Either-Or” and two upbuilding discourses...” he says, and explains that he intended the upbuilding, the religious, to advance, and that he wanted to show “that the writer was not an aesthetic author who in the course of time grew older and for that reason became religious”. (Journals, IX A 227). He was religious all along, also during all of the major philosophical publications that were not written in his name. The fact that every major pseudonymous work – up until Concluding Unscientific Postscript appeared and revealed the identity of the real author – was accompanied by one of these small Upbuilding Discourses, bears testament to the pivotal role they play in Kierkegaard’s philosophical development. Furthermore, while Kierkegaard could not present anyone with copies of his pseudonymous works (as explained above), he could indeed give away presentation-copies of his accompanying Upbuilding Discourses, which he then did. The Upbuilding Discourses are particularly interesting in several regards, one being that it is in the course of the printing of these that Kierkegaard changes his publisher. Ever since Kierkegaard had chosen to publish his first book himself, he had had his books on commission with the leading Copenhagen publisher Reitzel (the sole exception being his thesis, the Irony). That was also the case with Two Upbuilding Discourses from 1843. But for some reason, the following five publications of Upbuilding Discourses did not appear with Reitzel, but with P.G. Philipsen instead. We do not know the exact reason for this change in publishers, as the commission was exactly the same for the two. Whereas Two Upbuilding Discourses from 1843 had sold relatively well, the Three and Four Upbuilding Discourses from 1843 did not sell well. A mere 102 and 104 copies respectively out of a commission issue of 300 were sold. In an attempt at making money on these discourses in spite of the poor sales numbers, Philipsen offers to buy the unsold copies of Two Upbuilding Discourses from 1843, buys a sales issue of 300 copies of the Two Upbuilding Discourses from 1844, and makes the same agreement with Kierkegaard for the following two Discourse-publications. Sales numbers are still poor, however, and in the spring of 1845, only ca 100 copies of each of the 1844 Discourse publications have been sold. The printing issue of each was about 500, and Philipsen’s sales issue 300 thus, both Philipsen and Kierkegaard had large numbers of each Discourse-publication left, and in May 1845, they make a new deal. Philipsen buys the remainder issues of all six Discourse-publications, including the 278 copies of Two Upbuilding Discourses from 1843 from Reitzel. Philipsen has a joint title-page printed, along with a contents-leaf, and now issues the seminal Kierkegaard-publication that is no. 85 in the bibliography (Himmelstrup), namely Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses – all six publications, constituting all eighteen Upbuilding Discourses collected in one book. Seeing that there were 278 copies left of the Two Upbuilding Discourses from 1843, a maximum of 278 copies of Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses can have been made, making it one of the scarcest Kierkegaard-books. The actual number is certainly lower than 278, though, probably quite a bit lower, seeing that Philipsen continued to sell the separate publications, all copies of which he then evidently did not include in the Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses. The individual pamphlets, of course, are even scarcer, with a maximum of 232 copies of Two Upbuilding Discourses from 1843 and somewhere between 100 and 150 copies of the others. We know from the Erindringsbog fra Bianco Luno 1844 that Kierkegaard had 506 copies of Four Upbuilding Discourses 1844 printed, six of them on fine paper for presentation. Seeing that we have already established the clear thread of identity throughout all six publications, we must assume that the other pamphlets were printed in the same numbers. And we have the record of the remainder issues that Philipsen buys in 1845, which lets us conclude of the Upbuilding Discourses, that, by that time, 222 copies of Two 1843 139 copies of Three 1843 130 copies of Four 1843 120 copies of Two 1844 92 copies of Three 1844 96 copies of Four 1844 were sold out of the total number of original issues. In other words, these are extremely scarce. Not least in the original wrappers or bindings. The scarcest Kierkegaard-title that exists, however, will be found in the continuation of the printing history of the Upbuilding Discourses. It is the mythically rare title of Sixteen Upbuilding Discourses, which Philipsen issued in 1852, when the Two Upbuilding Discourses had been sold out and it was no longer possible to collect Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses. Thus, Philipsen had yet another title-page printed, this time with Sixteen Upbuilding Discourses as the title and the year 1843-45 on it, along with a new index-leaf he issued this, the scarcest of all Kierkegaard-titles, in March 1852. “It is not known how large the issue was, but it cannot have been more than 83, seeing that that was what was left of Three Upbuilding Discourses from 1843.” (Tekstspejle p. 54, translated from Danish). The idea of the Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses (let alone the Sixteen) was not Kierkegaard’s. He had agreed to the Eighteen, but it was not his intended project with the Upbuilding Discourses. Therefore, he wished for the book not to be reviewed, and he naturally did not give away any copies of the Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses, and of course not the Sixteen either, only the individual pamphlets. In all, seven presentation-copies of the different Upbuilding Discourses are registered, all being for either Heiberg or Nielsen. Curiously, neither Eighteen nor Sixteen Upbuilding Discourses were to be found in Kierkegaard’s book collection after his death. All the individual pamphlets were, however, along with a copy of the first nine Upbuilding Discourses – i.e. the three publications from 1843 – bound together. For more on the conundrum of the actual number of copies of the Upbuilding Discourses, see the Preface by Flemming Chr. Nielsen in Girsel’s Kierkegaard-catalogue, p. 19. Himmelstrup 85
I. A: Ogsaa et Forsvar for Qvindens höie Anlæg. II. B: Kjøbenhavnspostens Morgenbetragtninger i Nr. 43 + III. B: Om Fædrelandets Polemik + IV. S. KIERKEGAARD: Til Hr. Orla Lehman. [printed in: Kjøbenhavns flyvende Post, Interimsblad Nr. 34, 76, 82/83 ... - [VERY RARE FIRST PRINTINGS OF KIERKEGAARD'S FIRST FOUR PUBLICATIONS]
Kjøbenhavn, 1834-1836. Large 4to. Interimsblade [i.e. Interim Papers] 1-100, with the joint title-page and the contents leaf, bound in a very nice contemporary brown half calf with gilt spine and marbled paper over boards. Spine with wear and hinges and corners bumped. Edges of boards with wear. Occasional brownspotting throughout, but all in all a fine and well preserved copy. Each “Interimsblad” takes up 4 pp. Kierkegaard’s contributions: I: ab. 1 p. II: 2 3/4 pp. III: 4 pp. IV: 4 pp.
Very rare first printings of Kierkegaard’s first four publications, including the very first publication in Kierkegaard’s own name, which constitutes a true milestone in the history of Kierkegaard’s opus, as does, of course, his very first publication. KIERKEGAARD’S VERY EARLIEST publications are the papers that he publishes in Kjøbenhavns Flyvende Post, before he publishes his famous first book, which is a polemic attack on Hans Christian Andersen. The first and fourth of these earliest periodical publications are arguably the most important, being the very first thing Kierkegaard publishes and the very first publication in Kierkegaard’s own name respectively" but all these four earliest papers (Himmelstrup 1,2,3, and 4) are significant, 2,3, and 4 dealing with contemporary press issues, primarily freedom of press. Danish politics in the 1830’es was dominated by the slow implementation of rules for election for and assembly of the Estates of the Realm. But as they were only advisory, the papers and periodicals were not allowed to publish their opinions. In response to this, a liberal opposition arose around the two polemic papers Kjøbenhavnsposten (The Copenhagen Post) and Fædrelandet (The Fatherland). The first point on the agenda for the Liberals was the fight for freedom of the press and the abolishment of censorship. This fight for freedom of the press was something that found resonance with Copenhagen academics, and it stirred up a lively activity in Copenhagen. In 1835, active Liberals had encouraged King Frederik VI to support freedom of press but had received an answer stating that he alone was able to evaluate what was truly the best for the people and the state. After this answer from the king, the “Society for the Correct Use of the Freedom of press” was founded by moderate liberals and young liberals, and at the end of the year almost 2.300 members had joined. It was in the midst of all this that the 21-year old Søren Kierkegaard, then a student of theology, had his debut, with political-literary articles in Kjøbenhavns flyvende Post, in Interimsbladende, which were published separately. But as opposed to the predominantly liberal views of almost all other contributors, Kierkegaard’s articles expressed distinctly conservative views. His first publication, Også et Forsvar for Qvindens høie Anlæg (Also a Defense of the High Abilities of the Woman) constitutes an unpolished ironic apology for the liberation of women. This article is published in December 1834 and is signed “A.”. As opposed to the following next three articles, this does not deal with freedom of press. Kierkegaard’s three following publications, however, all concern the question of freedom of press and constitute satirical polemics against the two liberal papers Kjøbenhavnsposten and Fædrelandet, against Orla Lehmann, the upcoming star of the liberal youth, and against all liberals in general. These three articles were published in February and April 1836. The two first are signed “B.”, and the third, signed “S. Kierkegaard”, constitutes the very first publication in his own name. As is well known, the names under which Kierkegaard later publishes come to play a significant role in his authorship and represent an extremely thorough and well-thought-out construction. The foundation of this play with the reader is thus laid in the present publications, in which he begins to develop the style for which he later gained worldwide renown. The “names” A and B, under which he here publishes, will most famously be used again in Either- Or, Part one of which consists in “A.’s Papers” and Part Two in “B.’s Papers, Letters to A.” Common for all four of his first publications is the attempt at polemic and satirical power, at literary elegance and at a masterful and ceremonious critique of the prose of the opponent – all dominant traits in his later writings. Kjøbenhavns flyvende Post (The Flying Post of Copenhagen) was one of the most important and most widely read cultural and literary periodicals of the period. It was edited and run by Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1791-1860), arguably the most famous cultural person during the Danish Golden Age. He played a more significant role than any other author or thinker during this period and was the leading character of literature and philosophy in the 19th century. He introduced many German thinkers to Denmark, most importantly Hegel – who Kierkegaard would later oppose –, and he was part of almost all intellectual discussions of the Danish Golden Age. He was also a patron for many leading figures of the era. Interestingly, several people thought that the first of the articles on the freedom of the press was written by Heiberg. This was of dubious merit to Kierkegaard himself, as he was opposed to the circles around Heiberg and the Hegelian environment, but it was still this article – and this miscomprehension – that gave him a claim to fame. Another paper claimed that this “priceless” article had been written by Heiberg himself, who “had written many witty things, but never anything as witty as this.” Also Kierkegaard’s professor of philosophy, Poul Martin Møller, to whom Kierkegaard was very devoted and to whom he dedicated Begrebet Angest (the only person outside of his family that Kierkegaard ever wrote a printed dedication for), loved the article and assumed that Heiberg had written it. “He (Kierkegaard) had a lifelong antipathy toward the press, though he himself published reviews in various papers. His mistrust of the press as a legitimate organ of communication was based on several observations, one of which was that the press was the voice of the masses, rather than that of the individual. He viewed that voice with great skepticism and sarcasm in later years, averring that the crowd... even if technically correct... is wrong by the very fact of being the crowd. The truth can only be stated and practiced as individuals, especially as individuals before God. Admittedly, Kierkegaard’s view of the masses was not well developed at this juncture.” (D. Antony Storm). Himmelstrup: 1, 2, 3 & 4. The present copy is no. 1 in Girsel's ""Kierkegaard"" (The Catalogue) which can be found here.
Kierkegaard (The Catalogue). 2 vols. - [THE KIERKEGAARD CATALOGUE]
Herman H.J. Lynge & Søn, printed by Narayana Press, 2025. Large 4to (28 x 22 cm). Two volumes, in the original boards of black glitted paper with gilt lettering and single gilt lines to spines, in the style of Kierkegaard's original gift-bindings. Housed in the original black glitted slipcase with a frame of single gilt lines and gilt corner-pieces, also in pastiche-style. 445, 143 pp. + 4 pp. pricelist, loosely laid in at the end of vol. I. Richly illustrated throughout with excellent photos of each book. New, mint, and in the original plastic wrapper.
The catalogue contains descriptions of 116 books, being Kierkegaard first editions, presentation-copies, books annotated by Kierkegaard, an original handwritten letter by Kierkegaard, books from Kierkegaard's library, and two books pertaining to Regine Olsen. SØREN AABYE KIERKEGAARD is one of the most important philosophers of all time. He is the father of existentialism, one of the main influences upon postmodernism and existential psychology, is responsible for many of the key concepts in philosophy today, and he just happens to be Danish. As a centuries old antiquarian book shop based in Kierkegaard’s hometown Copenhagen, and specialized in Philosophy, it is not a coincidence that Kierkegaard has always been one of our main specialties. We have arguably the strongest tradition in the world in dealing with first editions, presentation copies, association copies, and books that have belonged to Kierkegaard. And this not only in recent times. In his lifetime, Kierkegaard was a customer of Herman H.J. Lynge & Son, and it was our predecessor, the distinguished Herman H.J. Lynge, who made the auction catalogue of his book collection, when he died. Since the mid- 19th century, Herman H.J. Lynge and Søn has had a special relation to Kierkegaard’s books and has always dealt extensively in these. This is the first time, however, that we have made a large catalogue presentation of the very best items available, not only in Denmark, not only now, but in the whole world, and arguably ever. We dare say that there has never been as many Kierkegaard rarities for sale at once. We have been collecting these choice copies throughout some years, during which we have been lucky to acquire some excellent collections and individual copies, making this unique presentation possible. And we have chosen to sell the books individually instead of as a collection. In the present catalogue, we are thus paying tribute to the greatest thinker of our nation by presenting you with an array of the most interesting copies of books connected to Kierkegaard that one will possibly ever come by. Here presented is not only all of his works in first editions, but also in some of the finest and most interesting copies that one can come by we have arguably the largest collection of Kierkegaard presentation-copies ever presented at once, several of his own copies of his own books, and possibly the largest collection of books that have belonged to Kierkegaard himself, both books that he has “merely” owned, and books that are inscribed to him. We also have a letter written by Kierkegaard, which is of the utmost scarcity. And finally, we have two books related to Kierkegaard’s fiancé, his muse Regine Olsen.
