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Ernst Falzeder is a very well-known historian of psychoanalysis and a highly appreciated editor of the period when the historiography of psychoanalysis was experiencing a profound mutation, tuning from a partisan into an unbiased enterprise characterized by a new attitude towards its sources. For a long time, the publication of Freud's letters was subject to intentional omissions, alterings, cuts, all sorts of misunderstandings, and a poor editorial apparatus. William McGuire's meticulous edition of the Freud–Jung letters in 1974 marked an important turning point in this regard, since these letters were the first to be published without having previously been submitted to censorship (apart some rude remarks about Bleuler and, obviously, the patients' names) and with careful annotations. A strong signal that we had entered a new phase for the Freud studies was provided in 1984 by the new edition of letters that had already been made public but in a censored and incomplete form, as had first occurred with Jeffrey Masson's complete edition of Freud's letters to Fliess.
In the ensuing years, Ernst Falzeder emerged as one of the most representative scholars of this new “scientific” phase, acting first as chief editor of the Freud–Ferenczi correspondence – a monumental work in three volumes (1993, 1996, 2000, for the English edition) – then producing a new edition of the Freud–Abraham letters (2002), and finally working in the Jungian field as translator and editor (co-editing Jung's 1915–1916 correspondence with Hans Schmid-Guisan, which appeared in 2012). During this period, Falzeder was also a highly prolific author, writing about 200 articles. This book is a collection of 16 articles, some of which are very well known, others less so. These 16 papers, which stand for themselves and can be read in any order, offer a comprehensive and harmonized view of a series of salient moments from the early history of psychoanalysis. The final result is a book that cannot be omitted