Freud, Sigmund

Typed circular letter in German signed ("Sigm.Freud"), also signed by Alexander Moissi, signed in type by other prominent Austrians, 2 pages (11 x 8 7/8 in.; 280 x 225 mm), no place, no date [Vienna, c. 1921], addressed "To the Artists and Intellectuals of Austria"; formerly folded, small mended tear in blank left margin. Red half-morocco drop-box, gilt-stamped title on spine, English translation laid in.

Russian famine relief. The Red Cross in 1921 asked Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930) to take on the task of directing relief for millions of Russians dying in the famine of 1921–1922. Help for Russia, then suspect in the eyes of most of the Western nations, was hard to muster, but Nansen gathered and distributed enough supplies to save a staggering number of people, the figures quoted ranging from 7,000,000 to 22,000,000.