From Death-Camp To Existentialism (Man’s Search For Meaning).

FRANKL, Viktor E.

Item Number: 89755

Boston: Beacon Press, 1959.

First edition in English of Frankl’s classic work, which was later titled Man’s Search For Meaning in 1962. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Viktor Frankl on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with light wear. Translated by Ilse Lasch. Preface by Gordon Allport. Originally published in German, in 1946 under the name Ein Psycholog erlecbt das konzentrationslager. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Signed first editions are exceptionally rare and desirable.

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl's theory-known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos ("meaning")-holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful. At the time of Frankl's death, Man's Search for Meaning had sold more than 10 million copies in twenty-four languages. A 1991 reader survey for the Library of Congress that asked readers to name a "book that made a difference in your life" found Man's Search for Meaning among the ten most influential books in America. "An enduring work of survival literature" (New York Times).