Stockholm, stentryck af C. Müller, (1820). Folio. Litogr. titel,+ 1-34 litogr. s. Enstaka fläckar. Häftad och oskuren, nagg i kanterna och med första och sista bladet lösa, sista sidan med revor. Nisser s. 170f. Den enda instrumentalkomposition som Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783-1847) lät publicera under sin levnad. Först 1865 trycktes även hans pianokvartett e-moll. Anna Elisabeth Löwenhjelm dog i barnsäng i mars 1820.

Bergen 1962. 4to. [128] s. Rikt illustr. Orig. pappbd. med vareomsl. Vareomsl. litt revet, ellers pen.. .

Taschen, 2009. Oversize hardcover - 26,7x37,4cm with the original slipcase and suitcase. Text in German, French, English. 464 pages. Slipcase has been opened and the suitcase has handling wear but is still well preserved , the book itself not opened and still in publishers wrapping (see photos - more photos available upon request). Very good copy. Please note this book is extremely heavy and will incur extra shipping costs.

W. Heffer & Sons, Cambridge. 1967.. Publisher's illustrated cloth. l, 598pp. 2nd ed Good copy. Light wear to cover Spine lightly sunned. Reprint. Name in pen and pencil to front free endpaper. Illustr. with b/w photos, illustrations and maps, some foldable.

Kjøbenhavn, P.G. Philipsens Forlag, 1841. 8vo. (8), 350 pp. Gift binding of elaborately blindpatterned full cloth with single gilt lines to spine. All edges gilt and printed on thick vellum paper. A splendid copy in completely unrestored state with minimal edge wear. Slight sunning to upper 1 cm of front board and slight bumping to corners and capitals. Leaves completely fresh and clean. Pencil-annotation from the Kierkegaard archive of the Royal Library (nr. 83) and discreet stamp from the Royal Library of Copenhagen to inside of front board (with a deaccession-inscription) and to verso of title-page. With ownership signatures of P.S. Lund and Troels Lund to title-page. Inside of back board with previous owner’s pencil-annotations listing the entire provenance of the copy and explaining that this is one of two copies printed on thick vellum paper. Laid in is the original agreement for the exchange of real property between the previous owner and the Royal Library of Denmark, from which is evident that in 2003, The Royal Library and the previous owner legally agreed to exchange their respective copies of Om Begrebet Ironie – the present one for Ørsted, being one of two copies on thick vellum paper, and the copy on normal paper for Heiberg, which is now in the holdings of the Royal Library of Denmark. Arguably the best possible copy one can ever hope to acquire of Kierkegaard’s dissertation – one of two copies on thick vellum paper, being a presentation-copy from Kierkegaard to the discoverer of electromagnetism H.C. Ørsted. Inscribed to verso of front fly-leaf: “Til / Hans Magnificens / Universitetets Rector / Hr. Conferentsraad Ørsted. / C og D.M.” (For / His Magnificence / Principle of the University / Mr. [a high Danish title, now obsolete] Ørsted. / C (ommandør) (i.e. Commander) and DM (short for Dannebrogsmand, another honourable title) ). The copy is with the Thesis, and both the day and the time has been filled in by hand. As mentioned in the introduction to the Irony, Kierkegaard had two copies made on thick vellum paper –one for himself (which is in the Royal Library of Denmark), and one for H. C. Ørsted, a towering figure of the Danish Golden Age, one of the most important scientists that Denmark has produced, then principle of the University of Copenhagen. This copy is unique among the 11 registered presentation-copies of Kierkegaard’s dissertation and is without doubt the most desirable. It is approximately twice as thick as the other copies and stand out completely. THIS IS KIERKEGAARD’S dissertation, which constitutes 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 language…” (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. The year 1841 is a momentous one in Kierkegaard’s life. It is the year that he completes his dissertation and commences his sojourn in Berlin, but it is also the defining year in his personal life, namely the year that he breaks off his engagement with Regine Olsen. And finally, it is the year that he begins writing Either-Or. 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. Two weeks later, on October 12th, Kierkegaard broke off his engagement with Regine Olsen (for the implications of this event, see the section about Regine in vol. II). 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). The presentation-inscriptions in the 11 registered copies of the Irony all follow a certain, strict pattern. “The wording could not be briefer. In the donation of his academic treatise, the otherwise prolific Kierkegaard sticks to name, titles, and the modes of address that goes with the titles.” (Tekstspejle p. 96, translated from Danish). When presenting his later books, he always signs himself “from the author”, sometimes abbreviated (i.e. “Forf.” In stead of “Forfatteren”), unless he is mentioned by name on the title-page as the publisher, not the author, as is the case with some of the pseudonymous works. In that case he signs his inscriptions “From the publisher”, always accompanied by “in deep reverence”, “with reverence”, “with friendship” or the like, adapted to the rank of the recipient and his place on Kierkegaard’s personal scale. An academic treatise, however, published before the oral defense took place – in the mind of Kierkegaard – required certain demands in relation to the donation of it. Thus, the brevity and rigidity in the following inscriptions. With the exception of Kierkegaard Hans Christian Ørsted (1777-1851) is arguably the most famous and influential Dane ever to have lived, universally known for his discovery of Electro-magnetism in 1820, which led to new theories and discoveries that constituted the foundation of all later electro-technology. After this milestone of scientific discovery, Ørsted went on to write a number of important philosophical works on natural philosophy and empiricism, of which The Spirit in Nature is the most famous and the work he himself considered his main work. Both H.C. Andersen and Søren Kierkegaard admit to having been influenced by the writings of Ørsted. “He was an enthusiastic follower of the “Naturphilosophie” school in Germany, whose main object was the unification of physical forces, thus producing a monistic theory of the universe. It was to further this purpose that Oersted sought in actual phenomena the electro-magnetic identity of which he had already convinced himself on metaphysical grounds” (Percy H. Muir in Printing and The Mind of Man). “The natural scientist Hans Christian Ørsted was one of the most significant and influential personalities of his age and together with the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, the poet Hans Christian Andersen, and the thinker Søren Kierkegaard, constituted the small handful of figures from “The Danish Golden Age” who achieved international and even world fame.” (Troelsen in Kierkegaard and his Danish Contemporaries I: p. (215) ). In intellectual circles in Denmark at the time of Kierkegaard, Ørsted was inevitable. He influenced not only natural sciences profoundly, but also philosophy, literature, and Danish languages (coining more than 2.000 neologisms). He was furthermore rector of the university of Copenhagen, when Kierkegaard in 1841 submitted his master’s thesis On the Concept of Irony. Being the rector, Ørsted was the one who needed to pass the treatise, but having read it, he was simply not sure whether to do so or not and needed to consult other experts, before making his decision. He ended up allowing it to pass, but not without having first famously said about it (in a letter to Sibbern) that it “makes a generally unpleasant impression on me, particularly because of two things both of which I detest: verbosity and affectation.” (Kirmmmse (edt.): Encounters with Kierkegaard, p. 32). Kierkegaard makes several references to Ørsted’s Spirit in Nature and mentions him several times in his journals and notebooks. Although being of different generations and not particularly close on a personal level, the two intellectual giants would naturally be unavoidably connected in one way or the other. Ørsted was simply so centrally placed and so influential that there was no way around him for someone like Kierkegaard. Himmelstrup 8 The present copy is no. 9 in Girsel's "Kierkegaard" (The Catalogue) which can be found here.

Dated ”Berlin.” ”D. 8 Dec. 41”. 8vo. Closely written in a small, neat, Gothic script on both recto and verso, 34 lines to each. Two vertical and three horizontal folds. Neat restoration to a few of the folds. All words are legible, and the letter in overall very good condition.SKS notes that it goes for all letters that have been folded to an envelope and sealed that the opening of it has caused small damage to the manuscript. In this case, the damage is absolutely minimal, with a tiny paper flaw at the second horizontal fold at lines 3-4 from the bottom (see SKS note 3 to Letter 171). A lengthy and truly magnificent original handwritten letter from Kierkegaard to his nephew Carl Lund, written during Kierkegaard’s first stay in Berlin right after the termination of his engagement to Regine. Original letters by Kierkegaard are of the utmost scarcity and only eight are known on private hands.In all, 318 of Kierkegaard’s letters are known, either preserved or otherwise rendered. Of these, 21 are now lost, and of the 297 still extant ones, 289 are in public institutions, almost all in Denmark. The remaining eight letters are on private hands, this being one. Needless to say, letters by Kierkegaard hardly ever appear on the market, and we have been able to trace merely two at auction or in the trade over the last 50 years.SKS has divided all of Kierkegaard’s letters into 14 groups, of which one contains the letters to the Lund family, consisting in 37 letters sent to Kierkegaard’s nephews and nieces, being children of his sisters Petrea (married to Ferdinand Lund) and Nicoline (married to Christian Lund). Of the 37 letters, eight are written during his seminal first stay in Berlin. The earliest of these letters is the present one, for Carl Lund, dated December 8, 1841, less than six weeks after Kierkegaard left for Berlin.We know from Henriette Lund (see her Erindringer fra Hjemmet) that it was of great importance for Kierkegaard to correspond with his nephews and nieces while he was abroad. Shortly before he left, he gathered his nephews and nieces and collectively urged them to write to him while he was away. They all agreed, but in tears that he was leaving the country – as was Kierkegaard himself. And they kept their promises, as is evident from the Kierkegaard letters that are still preserved. Sadly, none of the letters from his nieces and nephews have been preserved. Kierkegaard had a very close relationship with his nieces and nephews and undoubtedly wanted to stay in contact with them to follow their development, keep in touch with his family, and to uphold the close connection with them while abroad. But the correspondence was also important to Kierkegaard for another reason. He hoped to hear news about Regine. And the more he could rely on news from Copenhagen, the more he could hope to hear glimpses of news, however small, about his one big love, the one he left Copenhagen because of. Having broken off his engagement (see more about Regine and the engagement below, after Section II in vol. II), Kierkegaard almost immediately flees Copenhagen and the scandal surrounding the broken engagement. He leaves for Berlin, the first of his four stays there, clearly tortured by his decision, but also intent on not being able to go through with the engagement. This, his first stay in Berlin, is one of legend. It is a determining factor for his life as an author, with Regine as the inevitable and constant backdrop. It is here that it all really begins. It is here he begins writing Either-Or, parts of which can be read as an almost autobiographical rendering of his failed engagement. Kierkegaard left for Berlin on October 25th, 1841 and returned on March 6th, 1842, with large parts of the manuscript for Either-Or in his suitcase. We have the young existentialist genius in the making, broken and awoken by a self-torturing decision to leave his only beloved, spending four and a half months in a foreign city having fled a horrifying scandal in his hometown and finding himself as an author. This is possibly one of the most interesting and moving periods in Kierkegaard’s personal life, and holding in one’s hand a letter from him from this period cannot but move the heart of any Kierkegaard enthusiast.The present letter, written merely six weeks after having left Copenhagen, is both interesting and in many ways touching. It is written for Kierkegaard’s then 11-year old nephew Carl, who was the youngest living child of Nicoline and Christian Lund and is affectionately signed “Your uncle K”. The letter is warm and personal and shows us a side of Kierkegaard that we never see in his presentation inscriptions and that is not evident in his printed works.We see him as a caring uncle, one who makes sure to mention things from Berlin that are amusing for a child to hear about – vivid descriptions of things you would not see in Copenhagen. Of Thirgarten and of various animals here. Of how in Berlin they use dogs to pull carriages with milk from the countryside, like small horses, and how once, Kierkegaard saw a young boy acting as coachman for one of these carriages, speeding through the city. We also see him as an engaged uncle, who knows his nephew well and also cares about his intellectual progress. He is obviously concerned with Carl’s writing and spelling abilities, but he also tells him not to worry too much about writing well enough or spelling correctly – “you writevery well and with the exception of one letter, everything is so grammatically and calligraphically well that a Master of Arts could have put his name to it”.It is clear that he is not writing to a very young nephew, but to one who is old enough to understand slightly philosophical considerations, such as musings over time passing – “Time changes everything, and so it has also… changed you… In the light of this, you can now also understand how much it pleases me that you, in spite of this complete transformation, this metamorphosis… will remain unchanged in your relation to me”.The provenance of this extraordinary letter, perhaps the only Kierkegaard-letter one will ever have the opportunity to buy, is the Høyernielsen-family, descendants of Kierkegaard’s sister Nicoline.The letter is no. 171 in SKS. SKS 28: 281-82.

Bonniers 1971, 1.upplagan, 240s. Trådhäftad med färgtryckt omslag av Ulla Wiggen; hörnveck i framomslaget, förtitelbladet lätt gulnat av tidningsurklippen, tillskrift, tryfferad. Tryfferad med anmälningar av Karl Erik Lagerlöf (Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfarts-tidning 20/8 1971) och Olof Lagercrantz (DN 26/8 1971).

London: Penguin, 2008. First UK edition, fourth printing. (6), 214 pp. Publisher's slightly bumped hard cover in dust jacket with minor wear. ISBN 9781846141645. Written in 1945 but not published until 2008.

Stockholm: Bonnier Carlsen, 2011. Ny upplaga. (36) s. 24x30 cm. Inbunden i förlagets tryckta pappband. Illustrerad av författarinnan i färg och svartvitt. ISBN 9789163832017

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology/John Wiley & Sons, 1965. First edition. Second paperback printing. XV + 294 p. Publisher´s cloth without dust jacket. Very good condition.

Oslo, 1993. 208 s. Originalomslag. Meget pen.. (Pax Forlag). Bernt Vestres utvalg fra Sartres første filosofiske hovedverk L’Etre et le Néant tar sikte på å få fram Sartres syn om at vi “er dømt til å være fri” og at vi aldri kan frakjenne oss ansvaret for våre handlinger.