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Hardcover, 16 volumes dated 1863-1886. 8vo, finely bound by Bumpus of London in three-quarter navy morocco with with 5 raised bands and gold lettering to spines. Condition: Almost Fine, with some very light shelf-wear, with a small scratch to volume one, and some tiny chips to the board edges. *** Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) was the quintessential man of letters - visitors would describe his rooms as being strewn with papers and books. He was friends with the Lake Poets, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, and enjoyed instant popularity with the magazine publication of his "Confessions of an English Opium Eater" in 1821. *** Contents include "Confessions of an English Opium Eater", his widely praised essay on Shakespeare, "On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth" (1823), and his opium-inspired dreamscapes in "The English Mail-Coach" (1849). *** De Quincey recalls in his "Confessions" his escape from an English public school, his subsequent wanderings around Wales (where he intended to write about his travels) and his poverty in London. He feared being sent back to school if his guardians caught up with him, so scraped a living by squatting in an empty house, keeping company with other lost souls in the anonymity of the city. He finally left London for Oxford University, after the intervention of friends who chanced upon him. As a scholar, he excelled, especially in Greek. However, headaches brought about by washing his head in cold water before going to bed induced De Quincey to try opium, which he obtained easily from a pharmacy. He relates in the "Confessions" how this transformed not just his pain, but his intellectual outlook. This autobiography describes his addictions, first to wine and then opium. He talked about taking both as a remedy for his stomach pains, brought about perhaps by his "Down and Out" experiences in London, or perhaps as a result of his dislike of the English "public school" to which his guardians had sent him. The opium-induced dreams De Quincey describes in detail are, like those of H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, both fantastical and edged with horror. De Quincey elaborated on this theme in what some consider his masterpiece, "The English Mail-Coach". *** Provenance: From the library of Annie Pearson, Viscountess Cowdray, with her bookplate to front pastedowns. Lady Cowdray (1860-1932) was a noted feminist and President of the Women's Liberal Federation. She was also an early member and supporter of the Women's Engineering Society. *** Bibliography: Watson III, 1239. *** Weight: 19.0 lb
Ref: ESSY 8843
$1150.00