KIERKEGAARD, Sren. Fear and Trembling. London: The Folio Society, 2014.

8vo (228 x 151 mm). Original red publisher’s cloth blocked with a design by Paul Scheruebel. xvi, 143 pp., with 7 illustrations by Paul Scheruebel. Translated and with notes by Alastair Hannay. Introduction by Jonathan Re. Housed in brown publisher’s slipcase. First Folio Society edition.

Fear and Trembling was published in 1843 under a pseudonym Johannes de Silentio, John of Silence and the choice of name is characteristic of its author’s oblique genius. The book circles obsessively around a single episode from Genesis: God’s command to Abraham that he sacrifice his son Isaac, and Abraham’s willingness to obey.

For Kierkegaard this was not merely a theological puzzle but the central paradox of human existence the point at which faith, by its nature, exceeds the reach of reason and ethics alike. Abraham canno