FREUD, Sigmund (1856-1939). Autograph letter signed ('Freud') to Paul Epstein, Berggasse 19, Vienna, 10 April 1932.

In German. 1½ pages, 230 x 144mm, on personal letterhead.

‘Analysis certainly needs fellowship and the exchange of ideas’. Freud expresses his pleasure at hearing that Epstein has set up a study group for psychoanalysis [in Los Angeles], in spite of his many other occupations: ‘Analysis certainly needs fellowship and the exchange of ideas’. He is delighted to hear Epstein’s positive news of the [Jung-trained analyst] Thomas Libbin: Freud remembers the difficulties Libbin encountered during his training, but notes that ‘I do not know what the concurrence of facts and imponderables was in his case’, and that it was a less tolerant period. He remembers that Libbin’s ‘earnestness and zeal’ were acknowledged at the time, and promises to pass on Epstein’s good report.

Epstein had encountered Freud in a sanitorium in Switzerland in 1920, where Epstein was pursuing his second course of psychoanalytic treatment for ‘depression and stomach trouble’. An enthusiastic proponent of the treatment, Epstein founded the ‘Psychoanalytic Study Group’ in Los Angeles in 1927, alongside Libbin.

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