Albert Dickson 1928-1997

Albert Dickson, who died in hospital on 17 September 1997, had served the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis and the Publications Committee of the British Psycho-Analytical Society over many years in several significant ways. He was responsible for the Index of the Journal, compiling it with skill and accuracy; and it can fairly be said that no one excelled him in this exacting editorial task. Following the death of Angela Richards, who was still working at the time on the Penguin Freud edition, he took over the editorial work that remained to be completed on Volumes 12-15, and saw it through to its successful conclusion. Lastly, he was actively engaged for some time on the early work for a revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, but failing health enforced his withdrawal from a task that was by then beyond his strength.

Dickson was born in Dundee on 28 July 1928, and remained proud of his Scottish ancestry. Always a gifted linguist, he discharged his military service in Germany and it was there, stationed in Osnabruck, that his command of the German language was so greatly strengthened. He spent some years in Freiburg, was very fond of the Black Forest, and it was during his long sojourn in a country that he came to love that he demonstrated his talents as a translator, working mainly on English classic novels. He travelled widely, and continued his work as a translator in Sweden and Norway. His degree in Arabic was largely the fruit of a visit to Alexandria and elsewhere in Egypt and the Sudan that lasted well over two years and during which he made many friends. Unhappily, he returned from that country with a pulmonary infection, one episode in a long history of recurrent ill health.

But his interest in languages and travel was unabated, and his extensive knowledge of the history of the Middle East was added to his deep understanding of European history and culture. He knew many countries, including Yugoslavia,