As with all authors of such high standing, it is relatively easy to become acquainted with collectible Freud works, but the truly exceptional specimens are rare.
Take, for example, Freud's seminal work Civilization and its Discontents which sets out the main framework of Freud's entire later ideas and career (and is also regarded as a fundamental piece of philosophy for the European School of modern critical theory). A true first copy of the German original (1930, Internationaler Psychoanalytischer, Vienna) would, if in fine condition, be valued easily in the region of $2-3,000. However, the first US English edition (1930, Johnathan Cape, New York) could be found for a $1000 or less, due to its later publication date and translation.
The same curiosity can be found in the difference between Freud memorabilia and his first edition books. The father of modern psychotherapy was, as you will know, a man rooted in the intellectual and artistic life of his day, and was prone to writing long, essay-like epistles about his life and work. An autographed original letter by Freud could be valued as much as $30,000!
Luckily for the collector however, there are indeed a number of Freud limited and rare editions that are very economical and worth investing in. A first edition printing of The Interpretation of Dreams (1913, Macmillan, New York) could be found, in its third or fourth impression for as little as a $1000.
Still more desirable for the collector might be the later collected works of the great man by such prestigious small press publishers as Arion Press. This particular fine arts publisher has a very good history of producing the best quality works, joining classic texts with the cutting-edge artists of their day to produce some truly remarkable and enduring works. As late as 1993 they sought to produce some of the casebooks of Sigmund Freud, and The Case of the Wolf-Man can be found first edition, morocco spine and matching slipcase with specially designed etchings by the artist Jim Dine for as little as $750. Whilst this may seem odd for a book of such recent pedigree, we have only to look at the fine quality of Arion's output, as well as the growth in popularity for fine press limited editions to know that these editions are likely to increase in value as they age.
Freud, Sigmund. Beobachtungen uber Gestaltung und feineren Bau der als Hoden beschriebenen Lappenorgane des Aals. Staatsdruckerei, Vienna (1877). In Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Volume LXXV, Part I, Issue 4 (April); one lithographed plate.
Freud, Sigmund. Uber der Ursprung der hinteren Nervenwurzeln im Ruckenmark von Ammocoetes (Petromyzon Planeri). Carl Gerold and Son, Vienna (1877). In Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Classe der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften Volume LXXV, Part III, Issue 1 (January 4, 1877); folding lithographed plate.
Freud, Sigmund. Uber spinalganglien und Ruckenmark des Petromyzon. Carl Gerold and Son (State printing commission), Vienna (1878). Offprint from Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Classe Der Kaiserlichen Akademie Der Wissenschaften, Volume LXXVIII, Part III (1878); 4 folding lithographic plates by F. Schima after Freud.
Freud, Sigmund. Uber Spinalganglien und Ruckenmark des Petromyzon. Carl Gerold and Son (State printing commission), Vienna (1879). Included in Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Classe der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften Volume LXXVII, Part III (1878); issues 1 through 5 bound in one volume; two woodcuts and four lithographic plates by F. Schima after Freud.
Freud, Sigmund. Uber den Bau der Nervenfasern und Nervenzellen beim Flusskrebs. State printing, Vienna (1882). Included in Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Classe der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften Volume LXXVII, Part III, issues 1-2 (January-February), 1878; folding lithograph plate by F. Schima after Freud.
Freud, Sigmund. Zur Auffasung der Aphasien. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig (1891). Full title:Zur Auffassung der Aphasien. Eine kritische Studie.
Freud, Sigmund. Zur Kenntniss der Cerebralen Diplegien des Kindesalters. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna (1893). Full title: Zur Kenntniss der cerebralen Diplegien des Kindesalters (im Anschluss an die Little'sche Krankheit); two folding tables.
Freud, Sigmund. Studien uber Hysterie. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna (1895). Co-authored with Josef Breuer.
Freud, Sigmund. Die infantile Cerebrallahmung. Alfred Holder, Vienna (1897). Three folding tables, bibliography.
Freud, Sigmund. Die Traumdeutung. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna (1900). Three text diagrams; first printing; 600 copies.
Freud, Sigmund. Zur Pyschopathologie des Alltagslebens. S. Karger, Berlin (1904). First printing; a revised reprint of Monatsschrift fur Psychiatrie und Neurologie, Volume X in book form.
Freud, Sigmund. Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewussten. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna (1905). First printing.
Freud, Sigmund. Sammlung kleiner Schriften zur Neurosenlehre aus den Jahren 1893-1906. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna (1906). First edition of a collection of short works on the study of neurosis.
Freud, Sigmund. Die Traumdeutung. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig (1909).
Freud, Sigmund. Jahrbuch fur psychoanalytische und psychopathologische Forschungen. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna (1909). Edited by Eugen Bleuler, Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung; contain articles by Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Karl Abraham, F. Riklin, Ernest Jones, Otto Rank and others; includes articles:Die Stellung der Verwandtenehe in der Psychologie der Neurosen,Sexualitat und Epilepsie,Uber neurotische Dispositionen,Uber Konflikte der kindlichen Seele,Uber den Gegensinn der Urworte,Uber Urethralerotik,Zur Kritik uber Psychoanalyse,Psychoanalyse bei einer melancholischen Depression,Ein Beitrag zum Narcissmus,Antwort auf die Bemerkungen Jungs zur Theorie des Negativismus,Traumdeutung und Menschenkenntinis,Das autisitsche Denken,Beitrage zur Psychologie des Liebeslebens,Forels Stellungnahme zur Psychoanalyse,Zur Frage der Spermazotentraume,Einige Falle von Zwangsneurose,Zur Frage der teleologischen Traumdeutung,Bewusstsein kontra Unbewusstsein,Zur Geschichte der psychoanalyt,Bewegung, Allgemeine,Neurosenlehre, andPerversionenVolkerpsychologie; seven volumes; volume 6 was published under the title Jahrbuch der Psychoanalyse.
Freud, Sigmund. Studien uber Hysterie. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna (1909). Co-authored with Josef Breuer.
Freud, Sigmund. Eine Kindheitserinnerung des Leonardo da Vinci. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna (1910). First printing.
Freud, Sigmund. Three Contributions To The Sexual Theory. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, New York (1910). Translated by A.A. Brill; introduction by J.J. Putnam
Freud, Sigmund. Uber Psychoanalyse. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna (1910). Full title: Uber Psychoanalyse: Funf Vorlesungen gehalten zur 20 Jahrigen Grundungs feier der Clark University in Worcester, Mass. September 1909 (English: About Psychoanalysis: Five Lectures Held in Celebration of the 20-Year Anniversary of the Establishment of Clark University in Worcester, Mass., September 1909.
Freud, Sigmund. Die Traumdeutung. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig and Vienna (1911). Revised by Freud with the assistance of Otto Rank.
Freud, Sigmund. L'interet de la psychanalyse. Nicola Zanichelli, Bologna (1913). Translation by M.W. Horn ofDas Interesse an der Psychoanalyse Erste Teil: Das psychologische Interesse, which appeared in Scientia Volume XIV, number XXXI (1913)
Freud, Sigmund. Totem und Tabu. Hugo Heller and Co., Leipzig and Vienna (1913). Full title: Totem und Tabu. Einige Ubereinstimmungen im Seelenleben der Wilden und der Neurotiker; first impression.
Freud, Sigmund. Vorlesungen zur Einfuhrung in die Psychoanalyse. Hugo Heller and Co., Leipzig and Vienna (1916). Three volumes bound as one; part 1, lectures 1-4: introduction andFehlleistungen (The [Freudian] Slip); part 2, lectures 5-15:Der Traum (The Dream); part 3, lectures 16-28:Allgemeine Neurosenlehre (General Theory of Neurosis); one plate, frontis to part 2; first printing.
Freud, Sigmund. Wit and its Relation to the Unconscious. Moffat, Yard and Co., New York (1916). Introduction by A.A. Brill.
Freud, Sigmund. Vorlesungen zur Einfuhrung in die Psychoanalyse. Hugo Heller and Co., Leipzig and Vienna (1917). Three volumes bound as one; volume one: Fehlleistungen ([Freudian] Slips); volume two: Traum (Dream); volume three: Allgemeine Neurosenlehre (General Theory of Neuroses); frontis plate to second volume.
Freud, Sigmund. Jenseits des Lustprinzips. Internationaler Psychoanalytischer, Vienna and Leipzig (1920). From supplement No. 2 to the International Journal of Medical Psychoanalysis (Internationalen Zeitschrift fur Arztliche Psychoanalyse), 1920.
Freud, Sigmund. Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. The International Psycho-Analytical Press, London and Vienna (1922). Translated by James Strachey; first printing.
Freud, Sigmund. Zeitgemasses uber Krieg und Tod. Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag, Leipzig (1924). First appeared in Imago, Volume V, 1915.
Freud, Sigmund. Selbstdarstellung. Felix Meiner, Leipzig (1925). Offprint of Die Medizin der Gegenwart in Selbstdarstellungen, Volume IV, published by Dr. Louis Ruyter Radcliffe Grote; first printing identifiable byDezember 1924 at bottom of the last page of advertisements.
Freud, Sigmund. Die Zukunft einer Illusion. Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag, Leipzig, Vienna and Zurich (1927). Contains publisher's advertisements.
Freud, Sigmund. Eine Teufelsneurose im siebzehnten Jahrhundert. Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag, Vienna (1928). 300 copies; 7 plates.
Freud, Sigmund. The Question of Lay Analysis. Imago Publishing Co. Ltd., London (1947). Translated by Nancy Proctor-Gregg; forward by Ernest Jones, M.D.
Freud, Sigmund. Obras Completas. Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid (1948). Translated by Luis Lopez-Ballesteros y de Torres; two volumes.
Freud, Sigmund. The Origins of Psychoanalysis. Imago Publishing Co. Ltd., London (1954). Full title: The Origins of Psychoanalysis: Letters, Drafts and Notes to Wilhelm Fleiss (1887 – 1902); translated by Eric Mosbacher and James Strachey;edited by Marie Bonaparte, Anna Freud, and Ernst Kris; introduction by Ernst Kris.
Freud, Sigmund. The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Hogarth Press, London (1961). Full title: Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud; translated from the German by James Strachey and Anna Freud, assisted by Alix Strachey and Alan Tyson, with editorial assistance of Angela Richards; 24 volumes; Volume I: Pre-psychoanalytic Publications and Unpublished Drafts, Volume II Studies on Hysteria, Volume III Early Psycho-analytic Publications, Volume IV The Interpretation of Dreams (first part), Volume V The Interpretation of Dreams (second part) and On Dreams, Volume VI The Psychopathology of Everyday Life: Forgetting, Slips of Tongue, Bungled Actions, Superstitions and Errors, Volume VII A Case of Hysteria, Three Essays on Sexuality, and other works, Volume VIII Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious, Volume IX Jensen's Gradiva and other works, Volume X Two Case Histories:Little Hans andRat Man, Volume XI Five lectures on Psycho-analysis, Leonardo da Vinci, and other works, Volume XII The Case of Schreber, Papers on Technique, and other works, Volume XIII Totem and Taboo and other works, Volume XIV On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement, Papers on Metapsychology, and other works, Volume XV Introductory lectures on Psycho-Analysis (first and second parts), Volume XVI Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (third part), Volume XVII An Infantile Neurosis and other works, Volume XVIII Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Group Psychology, and other works, Volume XIX The Ego and the Id and other works, Volume XX An Autobiographical Study, Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety, The Question of Lay Analysis, and other works, Volume XXI The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and its Discontents, and other works, Volume XXII New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis and other works, Volume XXIII Moses and Monotheism, An Outline of Psycho-analysis, and other works, Volume XXIV: Indexes and Bibliographies; published from 1956-1974.
Freud, Sigmund. Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria. Collier Books (1963). Edited and with an introduction by Philip Rieff.
Freud, Sigmund. The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Hogarth Press, London (1966). Full title: The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud; translated by James Strachey and Anna Freud; edited by Alix Strachey et al.; 24 volumes; with additional volume:Abstracts of the Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud edited by Carrie Lee Rothgeb with an introduction by Robert R. Holt.
Freud, Sigmund. Obras Completas. Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid (1968). Three volumes.
Freud, Sigmund. Obras Completas. Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid (1972). Translated by Luis Lopez-Ballesteros y de Torres; edited by Dr. Jacobo Numhauser Tognola; nine volumes, black and white illustrations and photos.
Freud, Sigmund. Obras Completas. Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid (1973). Translated by Luis Lopez-Ballesteros y de Torres; edited by Dr. Jacobo Numhauser Tognola; three volumes; pagination errors; black and white photographs.
Freud, Sigmund. Opere. Boringhieri, Turin (1974). Six volumes; Volume I: Studi sull'isteria e altri scritti, Volume II: Progetto di una psicologia e altri scritti, Volume III: Interpretazione dei sogni, Volume IV: Tre saggi sulla teoria sessuale, Volume V: Il motto di spirito e altri scritti, Volume VI: Casi clinici e altri scritti; published by C.L. Musatti.
Freud, Sigmund. The Major Works of Sigmund Freud. Franklin Library, Franklin Center, Pennsylvania (1981). Each volume with a portrait and portfolio of black and white photographs by Edmund Engelman; three volumes; Volume I: Origin and Development Psychoanalysis, Selected Papers on Hysteria, Observation on Wild Psychoanalysis, and The Ego and the Id; Volume II: Interpretation of Dreams; Volume III: Introductory Letters On Psychoanalysis.
Freud, Sigmund. The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. The Hogarth Press, London (1981). Full title: The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud; translated and edited by James Strachey in collaboration with Anna Freud, with assistance from Alix Strachey and Alan Tyson and editorial assistance from Angela Richards; twenty-four volumes.
Freud, Sigmund. The Case of the Wolf-Man. Arion Press, San Francisco (1993). Illustrated with 6 woodcuts and 5 etchings by Jim Dine; introductory essay by Richard Wollheim; designed by Andrew Hoyem; 250 numbered copies, 30 copies with an extra large intaglio print; French mouldmade Johannot paper for text pages and English mouldmade T. H. Saunders Drawing paper for prints.