‎KIERKEGAARD, SØREN.‎
‎Tre Taler ved tænkte Leiligheder. Af S. Kierkegaard. - [THE ONLY KNOWN PRESENTATION-COPY]‎

‎Kjøbenhavn, Reitzel, 1844. 8vo. 100 pp. Original gift-binding of the black glitted paper with single gilt lines to spine and all edges gilt. Spine very neatly restored. The restoration covers a bit of the glitted paper that has been worn off, but the restoration in barely noticeable. A splendid, clean, fresh, and tight copy. Old owner’s name (Jens Jørgensen) to front free end-paper.‎

Reference : 62264

‎The only known presentation-copy, that for Madvig, of Kierkegaard's religious accompaniment to his seminal philosophical stage work (Stages on Life's Way), Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions.Inscribed to front free end-paper: ”Til Hr Prof. Madvig / R af D. / Med ærbødig Høiagtelse / fra / Forf.” (i.e. for Mr. Prof(essor) Madvig / R of D. (Ridder (i.e. Knight) af Dannebrog – an honorary title / with respectful / reverence / from / the Author”). As Stages on Life’s Way, Three Discourses... is divided into three sections: confession, marriage, and death – three crucial occasions in the life of each single individual. The three imagined discourses that constitute the present work – What It Means To Seek God, On the Occasion of a Confessional Service Love Conquers All, On the Occasion of a Wedding" The Decisiveness of Death, At the Side of a Grave – deal with fundamental questions such as guilt, sin, forgiveness, marriage, and death. They all involve the anxiety of making a decision, a theme that is central in Kierkegaard’s philosophical as well as religious thought, placing these imagined discourses centrally in Kierkegaard’s “first” authorship. Johan Nicolai Madvig (1804-1886) was a classical scholar and politician. As one of the greatest classical scholars of the nineteenth century, Madvig’s influence on scholarly and cultural life in Denmark can hardly be overestimated. Madvig served five times as rector of the University of Copenhagen, president of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters as well as the first chairman of the Carlsberg Foundation. Alongside his astonishingly prolific scholarly career, Madvig had a very successful political career, serving as chairman of the Danish Parliament, president of the Privy Council and Minister of Education. As the leading Danish classical scholar of his time, Madvig discussed with Kierkegaard parts the manuscript for On the Concept of Irony before the public defense of the thesis and continued to play an important role in his life. Only one single presentation-copy of the Three Discourses has been registered and is known to exist (the present). Himmelstrup 76. The present copy is no. 29 in Girsel's ""Kierkegaard"" (The Catalogue) which can be found here.‎