The spines of the original Kierkegaard cardboard bindings are always just thin paper directly glued on the block, making them extremely fragile, and the original paper-labels are hardly every preserved.

Due to its penetrating, illuminating analysis of the forms and sources of love, Works of Love constitutes the monumental highpoint for Kierkegaard’s concept of love. It is the central work for understanding both the various kinds of love and the conditions of love that Kierkegaard identifies and uses as a basis for his thoughts on Christianity.

Although the concept of love is a theme throughout many of his writings, from Either-Or (1843) through to On the Changelessness of God’s Love (1855), it is in the present work that it receives its full form.

The work is made up of 18 speeches that each explore the many aspects of love. The dominating theme is the commandment to love God and one’s neighbor as one loves oneself. It is through this choice to love that one ideally expresses one’s relationship to God. All the obstacles that stand between this choice of love are also explored in full. But it is cemented that love is that which upbuilds and develops the individual and provides the courage to live a life true to oneself. Only if one loves oneself can one love another.

These thoughts are fundamental to Kierkegaard’s philosophy and to his Christianity. As such, Works of Love constitutes one of his most important and fundamental works. “This work is marked by Kierkegaard’s Socratic awareness of the reader, both as the center of awakened understanding and as the initiator of action. Written to be read aloud, the book conveys a keenness of thought and an insightful, poetic imagination that make such an attentive approach richly rewarding. Works of Love not only serves as an excellent place to begin exploring the writings of Kierkegaard, but also rewards many rereadings.” (from the Hong-edition).

The present copy is no. 57 in Girsel's "Kierkegaard" (The Catalogue) which can be found here.