Norman 619: “the most famous account of drug addiction in English literature”. – „The first major work De Quincey published and the one that won him fame almost overnight“ (J. S. Lyon, Thomas de Quincey, New York, 1969, p. 91). – Thomas de Quincy’s (1785-1859) most famous and sensational work, ‘Confessions of an English Opium-Eater’, was first published in the London Magazine in 1821. – The Confessions maintained a place of primacy in De Quincey’s literary output, and his literary reputation, from its first publication; „it went through countless editions, with only occasional intervals of a few years, and was often translated. Since there was little systematic study of narcotics until long after his death, De Quincey’s account assumed an authoritative status and actually dominated the scientific and public views of the effects of opium for several generations“ (A. Hayter, Introduction to the Penguin edition, p. 22). – „Charles Baudelaire’s 1860 translation and adaptation, Les paradis artificiels, spread the work’s influence further. One of the characters of the Sherlock Holmes story The Man with the Twisted Lip (1891) is an opium addict who began experimenting with the drug as a student after reading the Confessions. De Quincey attempted to address this type of criticism. When the 1821 original was printed in book form the following year, he added an appendix on the withdrawal process; and he inserted significant material on the medical aspects of opium into his 1856 revision“ (Wikipedia). – Spine somewhat rubbed, very good copy untrimmed at sides and bottom.

Schlagwörter: Autobiographie, Autobiography, Drogen, Drogenkonsum, Drugs

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Heiting/Kaneko 370, 280. Parr/Badger III, 82. – Erste Ausgabe der ersten Fotodokumentation zum Drogenkonsum in Japan. – 1972 und 1973 erschienen aktuallisierte Neuausgaben. – „One of the most remarkable aspects of Kazuo Kenmochi’: Narcotic Photographic Document is the date of publication 1963. The book came out at a time when the world at large was only gradually becoming aware of the problems of narcotics, and the issue was not yet the headine news that it would become only a few short years later. At that time, drugs were still something wayward that people such as jazz musicians did – that is, drug-taking was seen by the mainstream as being confined largely to the ‚other‘. Kenmochi blasts through all this and identifies drug addiction as a serious and growing problem in a classic of investigative photojournalism. The book Iooks at every aspect of drugs, from their production their distribution, the mechanics of the business and the reaction of the law. His photographs are accompanied by a comprehensive text that contains statistical diagrams and objective sociological analysis. The text is the sober part of the work, somewhat at odds with the best of Kenmochi’s photographs, which are both expressive and intimate, with something of conspiratorial air of Larry Clark“ (Parr/Badger). – Schutzumschlag am Kapital etwas berieben und mit kl. Löchlein am hinteren Gelenk, Deckelschild des Versandkartons etwas berieben, sehr gutes Exemplar. – Dust jacket somewhat rubbed at the spine and with a small hole at the rear hinge, cover label of the dispatch box somewhat rubbed, a very good copy.

Schlagwörter: Drogen, Drugs, Japan, Photojournalism, Reportage-Photographie

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