Long-lost Freud book returned to Ontario library 40 years later by psychoanalyst

More than forty years after signing out a copy of Sigmund Freud's "A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis," Dr. Brian Reid - now a psychoanalyst himself - is returning the long-lost book to his hometown library. 

"Unconsciously, I must have wanted to retain it," he wrote in a letter to the Alice Munro branch in Wingham, Ont., with the book enclosed. "I thought, 'Why don't I return it to where it belongs, and maybe it will inspire someone else."

Reid checked out the copy in the late 1970s, around the time his math teacher and high school guidance councillor said he "wasn't university material" and "wasn't smart enough," as he remembers. 

"When it came time to return the book, it had vanished. I paid for the book and figured it was lost, never to be found," he said, not realizing the book would surface later in life. 

Reid left town to study photography at Fanshawe College in nearby London, on his guidance councillor's advice. A field trip to University Hospital to learn about medical photography reignited the interest that had brought him to the councillor's office in the first place: a desire to study medicine. 

He enrolled in a human physiology program at Western University. During second year, in 1982, Reid found the library book while clearing out his car to take to the auto wrecker. It was under the driver's seat. 

"I was surprised and I was pleased. I'd enjoyed reading the book," he recalled.

"I figured I'd paid for it, I might as well keep it."

The book moved with him over the years, from medical school at the University of Ottawa, to family medicine at McMaster University, psychiatry at Western University, and psychoanalytic training at the Toronto Psychoanalytic Institute. 

Now with a private practice in London, the library book popped into his mind while listening to his hometown radio station. It turned up again while he was transferring books from home to office, flipping to telemedicine during the pandemic. 

"I didn't go back [to my hometown] and practice, which is what I wanted to do. So this is the most I can do right now: to return a book. Maybe it will inspire someone else," he said.    

"It had sentimental value, but I should return it to them," he said. 

It's an example of how the written word, and libraries, have inspired and influenced people, said Trina Huffman, branch manager for the Alice Munro Public Library, where the book and letter have been on display since the fall.