How many copies did Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams sell?
"The most bizarre dreams often contain the most profound meanings," declared Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud in his major work The Interpretation of Dreams (1899).
Freud believed that dreams were the "royal road to the unconscious," and that the repressed desires that could not be expressed in an acceptable form would appear in dreams as symbols, shaped by the disguised workings of the human psyche. He analyzed common dream imagery.
For example, a person climbing a wall might represent a man or a woman, depending on the smoothness of the surface. Parents appear in dreams as kings or queens, while birth is symbolized by drowning or rescuing someone from water—essentially, water represents birth. Death, in turn, is symbolized by a journey. Most of these symbols, Freud argued, are ultimately representations of sexuality.
When we think of Freud's major works, The Interpretation of Dreams (1899) undoubtedly stands out.
Freud received $209 for its publication (Equivalent to about $7,200 to $7,800 in today's money), and he reportedly said, "Such luck may come only once in a lifetime," expressing his joy.
However, the first edition of 600 copies took eight years to completely sell out.