Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

[Thomas De Quincey]

1823

Taylor and Hessey

Second Edition

Description:

De Quincey's most notable work detailing both the pleasures and terrors of drug addiction.

Published anonymously, originally in The London Magazine, De Quincey recounts his early life as an impoverished runaway in London and his subsequent reliance on laudanum, initially taken to alleviate severe stomach pains but eventually transforming into a consuming 10 year long dependency. Rare Second Edition.

Condition:

Fair Condition. Bound in plain blue boards with brown paper to spine. New end papers. Without half title. Rough-cut edges. Contents are tanned and foxed. 6 pages of ads to rear. Gathering B2 in slightly loose, otherwise binding is firm. Boards have some slight staining with mark to front board. Moderate edge-wear with bumping to corners.

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Being Fragments of a Secret Tradition Under the Veil of Divination

A.E. Waite

[1910]

William Rider & Son Limited

First Edition

8vo

Description:

The rare, first edition of this essential work on tarot & symbolism.

This first edition was released in 1910 and bears a 1911 date on the title page, as do all other first issues. Issued alongside the Rider–Waite–Smith tarot deck, this work highlights the collaboration between author A.E. Waite and illustrator Pamela "Pixie" Smith, both prominent members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Driven by a commitment to symbolic precision, Waite conducted extensive research into the history and traditions of Western occultism to inform the deck's design. The text serves as the foundational guide for the symbolism developed by Waite and Smith for their revolutionary deck, which remains the most commonly used today, featuring 78 of Smith's plates accompanied by Waite's detailed explanations.

Condition:

Very Good Condition. Orange Cloth with gilt vignette and lettering to front board. Binding is firm. Pages have light spotting. Slight offsetting to end papers. Boards are clean with slight bumping to edges. Spine is lightly dulled with slight marking to tail and mid spine.

The Poems of Oscar Wilde

John Quinn's Bookplate

1906

F.M. Buckles & Company

8vo

Description:

Poems of Oscar Wilde previously owned by John Quinn, Irish-American bibliophile who helped W.B. Yeats found the Abbey Theatre.

A lovely scarce collection of Wilde's poetry in 2 volumes with John Quinn's bookplate to the pastedown of both volumes. The bookplate was designed by Jack B Yeats. Quinn was a successful New York lawyer who gave frequent financial support to Yeats, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot. He arranged for Eliot's Wasteland to be published in the US and Quinn purchased a manuscript of Ulysses as it was being written, enabling Joyce to finish the novel. Quinn was no doubt one of the chief patrons of the early 20th century modernist movement and this book would have sat in his vast collection.

Condition:

Good Condition. Blue cloth covered boards with lettering plates to spine and front board. Bindings are firm. Gilt top-edge.Pages are lightly spotted. Wonderful rough-cut edges. Book plate to both volume's front pastedown. Boards are good with slight loss to cloth on top-edge of volume one. General light marking and fraying to spine ends.