The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

First published in 1821, this autobiographical narrative recounts Thomas De Quincey's use of opium. An opening section describes a neglected childhood, flight from school, and hungry months in London with a young woman of the streets named Ann. The later parts divide the drug's early ease from the nightmares that follow: architecture, crowding faces, and Eastern visions that oppress sleep. The speaker analyzes memory, time, and the intellect under the dose. The book is a confession and a study of dreaming, not a medical textbook and not a novel.

Bound in black cloth blocked with a gilt design. Blue or brown slipcase.