Autobiographical fragment by Thomas De Quincey concerning his diet and health

Single sheet holograph manuscript

Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859), the son of a Manchester merchant, was educated at Oxford where it is believed that his life-long addiction to opium began. He was acquainted with key Romantic writers including Coleridge and Wordsworth. In 1817 he married Peggy Simpson, a farmer's daughter with whom he had 3 daughters and 5 sons. He wrote principally for periodicals, including The London Magazine, Blackwood's and the Quarterly. His best-known work, Confessions of an Opium Eater, was originally serialised in The London Magazine in 1821.

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Purchased from Maggs 7/12/1979

In English