Kierkégaard

Enten - Eller. Et Livs=Fragment udgivet af Victor Eremita. Anden Udgave. Første Deel indeholdende A.’s Papirer Anden Deel indeholdende B.’s Papirer Breve til A. - A TRULY MAGNIFICENT COPY SPLENDIDLY PRESERVED IN COMPLETELY ORIGINAL CONDITION

1849réf. 62135Kjøbenhavn Reitzel 1849. 8vo. XIV 2 320; 4 250 pp final blank. Both volumes in one – the original blue cardboard binding “hollanderet bind” with the original printed paper title-label preserved in its entirety to the spine. Slight loss to the paper to upper capital and to lower front hinge but amazingly well preserved fresh and crisp. Completely uncut 235 x 145 cm. making it ab. 15 1 cm larger than other well margined copies. Some brownspotting as always mostly quite light. Old owner’s name to inside of front board. Housed in a beautiful marbled paper box with a richly gilt red Morocco spine. The gilding is in the style of Kierkegaard’s most lavishly decorated full calf bindings and with the title in gilt Gothic lettering. The box is signed “Anker Kysters Efterf. And the gilding by Hagel Olsen. Front board with the gilt super ex libris of the previous owner. A truly magnificent copy of the second issue of Either-Or truly splendidly preserved in completely original condition. 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 as Enten-Eller and Afsluttende uvidenskabelig Efterskrift. If one finds these original bindings the spines are almost always more or less disintegrated and the original paper-labels are hardly ever preserved. Here we not only have an extremely well-preserved copy with very little of the paper missing of an original binding on the bulkiest Kierkegaard-title there is with the original printed paper title-label preserved in its entirety we have the second issue of Either-Or in its completely original condition bound in one volume as evidently it came from the publishers. This is an extreme rarity! Over the decades we have been able to locate two copies of the first edition of Either-Or in the original bindings but we have never come across a copy of the seminally important second issue in the original binding. This is possibly a unique preservation. Kierkegaard’s magnum opus Either-Or is considered the foundational work of existentialism and doubtlessly the most famous work by the greatest Scandinavian philosopher of all times who "is now generally considered to be however eccentric one of the most important Christian philosophers" PMM 314. Kierkegaard's monumental magnum opus seminally influenced later as well as contemporary philosophy and ranks as one of the most important works of philosophy of modern times. Either-Or is the earliest of Kierkegaard’s major works and the work with which he begins his pseudonymous authorship. Kierkegaard’s pseudonymity is an entire subject unto its own. The various cover names he uses play a significant role in his way of communicating and are essential to the understanding of his philosophical and religious messages. And it all properly begins here with his groundbreaking magnum opus. Conjuring up two distinctive figures with diverging beliefs and modes of life – the aesthetic “A” of Part One and the ethical B note that this is the first “pseudonym” that Kierkegaard uses in his earliest articles – no. I above/Judge Vilhelm of Part Two Kierkegaard presents us with the most basic reflections on the search for a meaningful existence seen from two completely different philosophical views. This masterpiece of duality explores the foundational conflict between the ethical and the aesthetical providing us along the way with the now so famous contemplations on music Mozart drama boredom pleasures virtues and probably most famously seduction and rejection – The Seducer’s Diary. It is primarily Judge Vilhelm from Part Two of Either-Or that has bestowed upon Kierkegaard the reputation as the Father of Existentialism. His emphasis on taking ownership of oneself and the importance of making choices has made him the first personification of Existentialism and the idea that one does not passively develop into the self that he or she should be or ought to become. Kierkegaard went to great lengths to ensure that the public would not know the identity of the author was of Either-Or. He even had the draft of the work done by several hands so that employees at the printer’s would also be deceived. Despite his efforts however it did not take long for the public to guess that Kierkegaard had written this astounding work. But Kierkegaard himself kept up the façade and did not accept authorship until several years later. Nothing Kierkegaard did was left to chance which his carefully chosen pseudonyms also reflect. This also spills over in his presentation-inscriptions which follow as strict a pattern as the pseudonyms themselves – he never signed himself the author if his Christian name was not listed as the author on the title-page. And seeing that he had not accepted authorship of Either-Or and is not mentioned by name anywhere on the title-page also not as the editor nor publisher as with the other pseudonymous works he was not able to give away copies of his magnum opus which is why no presentation-copy of the first edition exists. The appearance of the second edition of this monumental work was naturally carefully planned. Either-Or first appeared in 1843 and due to the great demand for the work which had originally only been printed in ca 525 copies it had quickly been sold out; but Kierkegaard refused to have it reprinted. In 1849 finally he decided to let it appear again in a textually unchanged version. When the second edition appeared recte second issue Kierkegaard had meanwhile owned up to the authorship of Either-Or. He had done so in 1846 in his Concluding Unscientific Postscript to The Philosophical Fragments own translation: “For the sake of manners and etiquette I hereby acknowledge what can hardly in reality be of interest to anybody to know that I am as one says the author of Either-Or Victor Eremita Copenhagen in February 1843.”. Now finally Kierkegaard could give away his magnum opus! In his Papers from 1849 Kierkegaard states own translation: “The poets here at home each received a copy of Either-Or. I thought it my duty; and now I was able to do it; because now one cannot reasonably claim that a conspiracy is made concerning the book. -because the book is now old and its crisis over. Of course they were given the copy from Victor Eremita.” Pap. X1A 402. Naturally because “as little as I in Either-Or is the Seductor or the Assessor as little am I the publisher Victor Eremita exactly as little; he is a poetically-real subjective thinker as he is also found in “in vino veritas.” “ the postscript to the Postscript 1846 But he only sent few copies to very choice people fewer than he did most of his other works and only three copies have been identified to Henrik Hertz Christian Winther and Hans Christian Andersen. Three further copies in gift-bindings corresponding to these have been identified but in these copies the leaf with the presentation-inscription has also been torn out. He must have given away yet another copy – one presumably not being on vellum-paper as according to his own notes he had asked the printers for six copies on vellum paper see Pap. Vol. X part five p. 203. - making the total known albeit not all identified number of copies seven. “Two copies in a binding corresponding to Hertz’s copy have been traced but in both the front free end-paper has been torn out. It leads one to think that the completely unusual presentation inscription signed by Victor Eremita! for the immediate posterity has been of such a curious nature that it has tempted autograph hunters on several occasions.” Tekstspejle p. 97 translated from Danish. “The other book of which the recipients stand out is the second edition of Either-Or which appeared in May 1849. The first edition from 1843 had been sold out for several years but Kierkegaard had refused to have it reprinted. In our context we must remember that in 1843 he was unable to send gift copies of the first edition… When in 1843 he lets Either-Or be reprinted in textually unaltered form he has meanwhile 1846 admitted to authorship of the work. But the wording on the title-pages of the two leaves does not allow him to sign the dedication “from the Author” or “from the publisher” or the like.” Tekstspejle p. 96 translated from Danish. Either-Or is now not only the title of Kierkegaard’s most famous and widely read work it is also a phrase that summarizes much of the thinking for which he is best known and a cornerstone of what we now characterize as Existentialism. The first edition caused a sensation. The second issue termed “edition” although it is textually unaltered is not only the first edition of the work to appear after Kierkegaard had acknowledged authorship of it and thus also confirmed being one and the same with his most famous pseudonym it is also the first of Kierkegaard’s works to appear in a second edition or issue. The second edition of the work is thus also of the utmost importance and is one of the only important second editions of any of Kierkegaard’s works. PMM: 314 Himmelstrup 21 hardcover

Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S · Danemark35 000,00 DKK≈ 4 682,41 €

KIERKEGAARD, SORENBiblio.com

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

1841réf. 62111Kjøbenhavn 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 languageâ€¦” 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 hardcover

Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S · Danemark100 000,00 DKK≈ 13 378,30 €

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