Confessions of an English Opium Eater. by DE QUINCEY, Thomas - 1822

London: Taylor and Hessey,, 1822. A groundbreaking text of drug literature First edition in book form of the author's iconic first book. First published anonymously in the London Magazine, September-October 1821, Confessions was a groundbreaking and influential text, presenting an account of the author's hallucinations, ecstasies, and torments as a result of taking opium. It was the first book in English to deal in detail with drug addiction. "Throughout the nineteenth century the work was viewed as having medical authority as a case history, and De Quincey was widely read in British and American medical circles" (ODNB). It also laid the intellectual foundation for most of the modern drug literature of Cocteau, Burroughs, and other Beats, and was a landmark text in the development of confessional autobiography. Octavo (165 x 95 mm). Contemporary calf, flat spine gilt ruled in compartments with flower gilt tools at centres, red morocco label, covers framed with a decorative blind roll, board edges gilt. Joints repaired, edges furbished, a few scratches to front cover, very light damp stain to upper blank margin of first few pages, a few marks to contents, overall a clean and bright copy. A very good copy. Norman 619.