“I HAVE OFTEN BEEN ASKED HOW IT WAS… THAT I BECAME AN OPIUM-EATER”

DE QUINCEY, Thomas. The Works of Thomas De Quincey. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1880. Sixteen volumes. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter tan calf, raised bands, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, brown and black morocco spine labels, marbled boards, endpapers and edges. $2500.

1880 edition of De Quincey’s works, illustrated with 12 engraved plates.

De Quincey's "rich imagination enabled him… to become one of the great masters of English in what he calls the 'department of impassioned prose'… he has left many writings which… are unrivaled in modern English" (DNB V: 840). Includes Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, as well as biographies, reviews and essays concerning literary figures from Milton to Coleridge.

Occasional light foxing. A very handsome set.