De Quincey, Thomas, 1785-1859. Confessions of an English opium-eater

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is a memoir by Thomas De Quincey that recounts the circumstances of his addiction to laudanum, his experience of the drug, and its effect on his life. De Quincey was born in 1785. The chronology of his narrative begins with the death of his father in 1793, continues through his opium years beginning in 1804, and concludes after his marriage (in 1817) to a farmer's daughter named Margaret Simpson. De Quincey completed the first edition of Confessions in 1821, at which point he published them anonymously in The London Magazine, where they appeared in two parts (in the September and October issues, respectively). A book edition with a new appendix followed in 1822, and a greatly expanded and revised edition in 1856. When De Quincey first revealed himself to be the author of the confessions, the disclosure brought him immediate fame. Although De Quincey was a prolific essayist as well as translator, Confessions is the work for which he is renowned.