Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

Title: Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

Author: [De Quincey, Thomas]

Publication: London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, Fleet Street, 1822.

Description: Thomas De Quincey's autobiographical account of his addiction to opium, its effect on his mind and dreams, and his struggle to overcome it. First edition in book form; previously appeared in the London Magazine. Bound in later full brown mottled calfskin over boards, stamp-signed by the binder Root & Son on the rear turn-in and by bookseller Charles E. Lauriat of Boston on the front free endpaper, covers gilt with French fillet border, spine with five raised bands and gilt in compartments with a central star within dotted and double-rule frames; turn-ins and board edges gilt with decorative rolls; endpapers printed in multiple colors with a circle and dot pattern; all edges gilt; red ribbon marker. 6.75 x 4 inches; vi, 206 pages. Half-title present, final advertisement leaf wanting. From the collection of Arthur Williams Hall (1873-1952) of Massachusetts, bibliophile and manufacturer of laboratory equipment, with his pencil notes on front free endpaper and in the margins; thence by descent through three generations. Moderate wear and cracking to the binding, scattered foxing to the interior. Very Good+. A foundational work on addiction that shaped public perception of opium for generations. Reference: Tinker Library, 817; Wise, T.J. Ashley Library, II, p. 37.