first edition Hardcover
1822 · London
by De Quincey, Thomas
London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, 1822. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Original boards and label, the gray/brown paper surface layer worn along spine exposing the white paper layer underneath, but the covers are all there (see picture), and this is a very good copy, untrimmed, and unrestored. Some 1st editions have an advertisement leaf at the end, apparently depending on which retailer or library, or part of Britain, or part of the empire, it was destined for, our copy without it, but the ad has no stature for bibliographical priority. A seamless rendezvous between autobiography and fiction, but it’s much more of the former than the latter, and that’s correctly how it should be, since the book focuses on the author’s life from the age of 17 (in 1802) to 35 (in 1820), when his reality exceeded the imagination of most other writers. His primary motif is a romantic and nostalgic recollection of the days recounted, that left him with an innate concern for the poor, and a fondness for wandering the streets of London (a primitive flâneur), and though the narrative is chilling and authentic, the language and style impassioned, and the literary merit unchallenged, that very nostalgia left many critics (drunk on Haterade) whining that De Quincey’s eulogized memory of his opium experience outweighed his warnings against its painful consequences. De Quincey didn’t care. He knew that opium meant waking up with someone ugly, but Confessions was his first major book, and writing it was his rehab, and becoming a professional author made him a lot of money.
(Inventory #: 1096)
