In 1885, Freud studied with Jean-Martin Charcot, a charismatic lecturer and outstanding clinician, at the famous Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. Freud greatly admired Charcot, even naming his first son Jean Martin in Charcot's honor. This copy of the German translation of Charcot's lectures on the localization of brain disorders bears Freud's ownership signature.

The New York State Psychiatric Library acquired part of Freud's library in 1939, after Freud had to flee Nazi-occupied Vienna. It has been housed in the Health Sciences Library since 1978.