830 - (De Quincey, T.).

(De Quincey, T.). Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. Second edition. London: Taylor and Hessey, 1823. Small 8° (18 x 11 cm). IV, 206 pp., [3] pp. (publisher’s advertisements). Half-leather binding from around 1900 with gilt spine title, gilt spine, and gilt top edge. Norman 619: “the most famous account of drug addiction in English literature.” — “The first major work De Quincey published and the one that brought him fame almost overnight” (J. S. Lyon, *Thomas de Quincey*, New York, 1969, p. 91). - Thomas de Quincey’s (1785–1859) most famous and sensational work, *Confessions of an English Opium-Eater*, was first published in the *London Magazine* in 1821. - The *Confessions* held a place of primacy in De Quincey’s literary output and his literary reputation from the moment of its first publication; “it went through countless editions, with only occasional intervals of a few years, and was often translated. Since there was little systematic study of narcotics until long after his death, De Quincey’s account assumed an authoritative status and actually dominated scientific and public views on the effects of opium for several generations” (A. Hayter, Introduction to the Penguin edition, p. 22). - “Charles Baudelaire’s 1860 translation and adaptation, *Les paradis artificiels*, further expanded the work’s influence. One of the characters in the Sherlock Holmes story *The Man with the Twisted Lip* (1891) is an opium addict who began experimenting with the drug as a student after reading *Confessions*. De Quincey attempted to address this type of criticism. When the 1821 original was published in book form the following year, he added an appendix on the withdrawal process; and he included substantial material on the medical aspects of opium in his 1856 revision" (Wikipedia). - Spine somewhat rubbed, very good copy, untrimmed on the sides and bottom.