The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud: Translated from the German under the general editorship of James Strachey, in collaboration with Anna Freud, assisted by Alix Strachey and Alan Tyson. Editorial assistant: Angela Richards. Vol. I (1886–1899) Pre-Psycho-Analytic Publications and Unpublished Drafts. (London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis. Vol. I, 1966, pp. xxvi + 430. £50 the set of 24 vols; sold only in sets.)

This volume includes the earlier writings of Freud that have any relation to his development of psycho-analysis, including drafts of papers published during the years 1866–1899. The papers actually published during this period are given in Vols. II and III of this edition. Since the final volume of the series, still to come, will contain only a full bibliography and indexes, the publication of this volume has rightly been the occasion for widespread congratulation of James Strachey and his co-workers on the completion of their onerous but invaluable task.

The volume opens with a General Preface. The editor describes the scope, plan, and sources of the Standard Edition, framed with the "serious student" in mind, for whose use the different types of commentary and notes are intended. A section on translation discusses the problem of rendering "Freud, the whole of Freud, and nothing but Freud" not only accurately (this involved many sub-problems such as untranslatable terms) but in a style of English that did justice to Freud's own fine writing. Despite the almost over-modest dedication that calls the edition a "blurred reflection", readers will surely agree that truly phenomenal and exemplary success has been achieved in both these aims. The "Acknowledgments" recount the difficulties that beset the launching of the enterprise and of the crucial help given by the United States, e.g. by Dr John Murray and others, both American and English, including Anna Freud. There is a special tribute to Alix Strachey. A list of technical terms calling for comment is appended.

The text itself begins, logically enough, with Freud's "Report on my studies in Paris and Berlin", since the visit to Paris was the turning-point in his career. He himself rated his contact with Charcot as the most important part of his experiences there and it was this contact that first stimulated his interest in psychopathology, as distinct from neurology. He left Paris as "Charcot's unqualified admi