Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey (Pre-Sale)

Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey was originally published anonymously in 1821. It is half Dickensian memoir and half psychedelic fever dream. Thomas De Quincey, like many other English Romantics, was addicted to laudanum, a potent tincture made of opium dissolved in alcohol. This book documents his journey running away from school to meet his literary idols, discovering opium, and becoming a starved artist living in squalor and in the throes of addiction.

Confessions of an English Opium Eater shocked readers by openly describing recreational drug use and addiction. These descriptions make it the inaugural work of “drug literature”. Aside from inventing a new genre, it also became a landmark in psychological literature. De Quincey explored memory, dreams, and the unconscious decades before Freud.

The book deeply influenced writers such as Baudelaire, Edgar Allan Poe, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Aleister Crowley, the Beat poets, Jorge Luis Borges, Terence McKenna, Aldous Huxley, Fitz Hugh Ludlow, and many others. 

Also included are notable essays and other macabre stories by De Quincey. See the picture of the Table of Contents for a complete list. 

This hardcover, illustrated edition features a new introduction by Hamilton Morris, a renowned journalist, documentarian, and chemist who specializes in psychoactive drugs. 

It is furnished with cover art, custom endpapers, and over 20 original illustrations by Hernan Conde de Boeck. 

Interior book design by Sherill Chapman.

This edition is limited to 3,000 copies. 9 inches tall by 6 inches wide.

Estimated at around 500 pages. Page count is subject to change until printing. 

Rounded spine with Smyth sewn binding and headbands. Deckled edges. Gold foiling. 

Printed in the United States of America.