Literature and Letters
De Quincey Collection
Thomas De Quincey (1789-1859) is one of the greatest authors to have been born in Manchester. His output was prolific but he is best remembered for his autobiographical book Confessions of an English opium-eater and for his friendship with the Lake poets in particular Wordsworth.
The son of a wealthy merchant he was born in Manchester in 1789 and was raised at the family's town house (believed to be on the site of the Arndale Centre) and at their country retreat at Greenheys in the then rural district of Moss Side. The family name was simply Quincey but his mother had grander ideas.
He was educated at Manchester Grammar School. His school days were an unhappy period and he ran away to Chester. Later he walked to the Lake District to see his idol Wordsworth, whom he succeeded as tenant of Dove Cottage.
He began to contribute to magazines and journals of the day but constant ill health made him resort to opium a common remedy and pain killer of the day. His experiences became the basis for his most famous book. Other books include Reminiscences of the Lake poets, and Murder as a fine art, as well as volumes of literary criticism and essays.
His later years were spent in Edinburgh, where he died in 1859 apparently none the worse for his habit.
The collection contains:
- six boxes of magazine articles by De Quincey extracted from the leading magazines of the day such as Blackwood's and Tait's Edinburgh magazine
- 150 editions of the works mostly first or early editions, including American editions
- books about De Quincey
- books belonging to De Quincey and a few fragments of manuscripts, some donated by his daughters
There are no items dating after 1930 in the collection.
To locate items:
The collection is not included in the library catalogue, though we have a good collection of De Quincey material acquired from other sources sometimes duplicating the collection items. Instead consult the annotated copy of John Albert Green's comprehensive bibliography of De Quincey that was used as a guide to assemble the original collection at Moss Side Library (available at the Language and Literature Library counter). However it must be stressed that this is not a complete catalogue of the collection as some items were never acquired.
Please note Central Library is currently closed for refurbishment. Please contact Manchester Libraries for access arrangements.
