[Freud's letters considered as a historical source]

Freud's epistolary activity shows him to have been extraordinarily productive in this genre throughout his life. His letters, even more than his works, bear witness to his mastery of style. They have been extensively published in biographical, historical and scientific accounts because of the historical evidence they contain, but they have rarely been the object of a proper methodological analysis. This essay presents the project of a "concordance of the letters to and by Freud" which should facilitate the approach by historians of this extremely scattered epistolary work. 3200 letters of which Freud was the author have already been published since his death, and almost 1,200 letters that were addressed to him. This article also includes a discussion of the methodological principles that must be taken into consideration when using these letters as so many historical sources.