The Function of the Orgasm. Sex-Economic Problems of Biological Energy
New York: Orgone Institute Press, 1942. 1st Edition. Octavo, publisher's ecru cloth, spine and upper board stamped in navy, tan endpapers, original printed dust jacket.
"Love, work and knowledge and the well-springs of our life. They should also govern it." First edition in English of radical psychoanalyst and counterculture icon William Reich’s landmark text. Originally a student of Freud and one of the youngest members of the Viennese Psychoanalytic Society, Reich worked as an analyst specializing in sexual counseling. After formulating his "orgasm theory" and discovering what he believed to be a cosmic life energy he called Orgone (also known as "chi"), he split with the community to develop new therapeutic techniques. A comprehensive reworking of his monograph of the same title published in 1927, which theorized that physical and mental health are contingent upon the ability to achieve orgasm, the work details the progression of Reich's clinical and theoretical findings on Orgone from his time in medical school, through his apprenticeship as a clinical assistant to Freud, to the laboratory experiments he conducted in Oslo in the late 1930s. Shortly after the publication of this volume, Reich purchased a plot of land in Maine which would become his home, laboratory, and research center, and where his famous cloudbusting experiments would take place. Illustrated with several black-and-white photos and diagrams; with a glossary and index. Issued here as volume one of a projected longer work, The Discovery of the Orgone (the second volume, The Cancer Biopathy, was published in 1948). Translated by Theodore P. Wolfe. Bottom corners gently bumped, lightest soiling to cloth; unclipped dust jacket somewhat heavily worn, with chipping at extremities, splitting to flap folds (still attached), some rubbing and soiling. Good or better overall, and uncommon in dust jacket. Item #6439
$250.00