Soren Kierkegaard

when Reitzel took possession of all the remaining unsold copies. Kierke-
gaard thus earned a gross of 4,874 rixdollars on the ten books he produced
on a commission basis. His expenses for paper, printing and binding must
be subtracted from this sum—a total of about 2,200 rixdollars for all the
commission books, which leaves about 2,674 rixdollars. And finally, from
this sum must be deducted the cost of advertising, the cost of a number of
free copies, as well as expenses for secretarial help and proofreading; these
latter two items were the costliest, probably totaling about 500 rixdollars.
Thus, all in all, Kierkegaard’s net earnings on the books he produced on a
commission basis and sold through Reitzel’s were about 2,000 rixdollars.
From the Papers of One Still Living, which was also sold through Reitzel’s
on a commission basis, is not included in this accounting. Information con-
cerning this work is scanty, but from a statement dated March 30, 1850,
we learn that Kierkegaard earned just under 43 rixdollars on the 121 copies
sold between June 1839 and March 1850. This sum, paid to Kierkegaard
in April 1850, probably covered his expenses for paper and printing. He
probably broke even in the same fashion onTwo Edifying Discourses,of
which there remained seventy-eight unsold copies as of May 24, 1845, after
which they were purchased by Philipsen.
The pattern is similar, though on a smaller scale, with respect to the six
books produced on commission that were sold through Philipsen. These
were the small volumes ofEdifying Discoursesthat appeared in 1843 and
1844, plusOn the Concept of Ironyfrom 1841. All that is known with respect
to the financial side of Kierkegaard’s dissertation is that its retail price was
1 rixdollar and 48 shillings; it is not known how many copies were printed,
or sold, or what Philipsen received in commission. Kierkegaard himself
noted, quite precisely, though without specifics, that “the book has cost me
182 rixdollars, 4 marks and 8 shillings to publish.” If Philipsen took twenty-
five percent of the retail price as commission, Kierkegaard’s expenses would
have been covered if he had sold 163 copies, which does not seem unrealis-
tic, because the public defense of the dissertation appears to have been
something close to standing room only. On the other hand, a small adver-
tisement included in the first edition of theSixteen Edifying Discoursesfrom
1852, stated thatOn the Concept of Ironywas still available for purchase, and
thus had not yet sold out.
In 1843 and 1844 Kierkegaard published a total of eighteen edifying dis-
courses, grouped in six small booklets. The first of these appeared on com-
mission at Reitzel’s on May 16, 1843, while the others came out on com-
mission via Philipsen, who in 1845 purchased the remaining unsold copies
of these sixteen discourses, which he had had on commission, plus the re-
maining copies of the two discourses that had been on commission at Reit-