Collected Works De Quincey, Thomas: Writings | v.5.0 | Update 11 Jan 2015

[pynch]

This edition collects the writings of Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859, Wikipedia). I’ve used whatever Gutenberg had to offer from the first 23-volume American edition of his works (1851-1859, a little more on the reasons below). There were only 12, so I’ve transcribed and corrected eight further volumes (Life and Manners, Literary Reminiscences 1+2, Essays on the Poets, Historical and Critical Essays 2, Essays on Philosophical Writers 1, Letters to a Young Man, The Logic of Political Economy).

Almost all of De Quincey’s writings appeared in monthly magazines first. As the American edition did a poor job of grouping the texts (the book titles regularly end in “and Other Papers”), I’ve sorted them chronologically and restored the original titles. So here’s what you’ll find inside:

1809.
Postscript on Sir John Moore’s Letters.[****]
1818.
Close Comments upon a Straggling Speech.[****]
1821.
The Sport of Fortune. A Fragment. From a True History. By Schiller.[*]
Confessions Of An English Opium-Eater: Being An Extract From The Life Of A Scholar.
John Paul Frederick Richter.
1823.
Letters To A Young Man Whose Education Has Been Neglected.
Anecdotage, 1. Miss Hawkin’s Anecdotes.[*]
Death Of A German Man.
Notes From The Pocket Book Of A Late Opium-Eater
Mr. Schnackenberger; Or, Two Masters For One Dog. From The German. [By Friedrich Laun.]
The Dice. From The German. [By Friedrich Laun.]
The King Of Hayti. From The German. [By Friedrich Laun.]
Measure Of Value.
The Fatal Marksman. [By Johann August Apel.]
1824.
Historico-Critical Inquiry into the Origins of the Rosicrucians and Free-Masons.[*]
Analects From John Paul Richter.
Dream Upon The Universe. [By John Paul Richter.]
The Services Of Mr. Ricardo To The Science Of Political Economy, Briefly And Plainly Stated.
Dialogues Of Three Templars On Political Economy. Chiefly In Relation To The Principles Of Mr. Ricardo.
Education. Plans For The Instruction Of Boys In Large Numbers.
Kant on National Character, in Relation to the Sense of the Sublime and the Beautiful.[*]
Abstract Of Swedenborgianism: By Immanuel Kant.
Goethe. [Wilhelm Meister.][*]
The Incognito; Or, Count Fitz-Hum. [By Friedrich Laun.]
The Somnambulist. [By Friedrich Laun.][*]
Idea of a Universal History on Cosmo-Political Plan, by Immanuel Kant.[*]
Walladmor: Sir Walter Scott’s German Novel.[*]
1825.
Walladmor.
The Street Companion; or the Young Man’s Guide and the Old Man’s Comfort, in the Choice of Shoes.[*]
1826.
Gillies’s German Stories.[****]
Gallery Of The German Prose Classics.—Lessing.
1827.
Gallery Of The German Prose Classics. No. III—Kant.
On Murder, Considered As One Of The Fine Arts.
1828.
Toilette Of The Hebrew Lady. Exhibited In Six Scenes.
Elements Of Rhetoric.
1829.
[The Poetical Works of Manzoni][****]
Sketch Of Professor Wilson. (In A Letter To An American Gentleman.)
The Duke of Wellington and Mr Peel.[***]
1830.
Kant In His Miscellaneous Essays.
Life of Richard Bentley, D D by J H Monk, D D.[**]
French Revolution.[***]
France and England.[***]
Political Anticipations.[***]
The Late Cabinet.[***]
1831.
The Present Cabinet in Relation to the Times.[***]
Dr Parr and his Contemporaries.[**]
On the Approaching Revolution in Great Britain.[***]
1832.
The Prospects of Britain.[***]
M‘Gregor’s British America.[***]
James’s History Of Charlemagne.
Milton.[***]
Klosterheim.
The Cæsars.
1833.
The Revolution Of Greece. Part I.
Age of the Earth. [By Immanuel Kant.][*]
Mrs Hannah More.
1834.
Animal Magnetism.[*]
Sketches Of Life And Manners; From The Autobiography Of An English Opium-Eater.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
1835.
A Tory’s Account of Toryism, Whiggism and Radicalism. In A Letter To A Friend In Bengal.[*]
1836.
Autobiography Of An English Opium-Eater.
1837.
Revolt Of The Tartars. Or, Flight Of The Kalmuck Khan And His People From The Russian Territories To The Frontiers Of China.
1838.
The Household Wreck.
The Avenger.
A Brief Appraisal Of The Greek Literature In Its Foremost Pretensions.
1839.
Lake Reminiscences, From 1807 To 1830.
Dilemmas of the Corn Law Question.[****]
The English Language.
On Hume’s Argument Against Miracles.
Casuistry.
On the True Relations to Civilisations and Barbarism of the Roman Western Empire.[***]
Second Paper On Murder, Considered As One Of The Fine Arts.
Dinner, Real And Reputed.
Milton.
1840.
On the Essenes.[***]
Theory Of Greek Tragedy.
Modern Superstition.
The Opium and the China Question.[****]
Style.
Lord Stanley's Irish Registration Bill.[****]
Hints for the Hustings.[****]
Foreign Politics.[****]
1841.
The Dourraunee Empire.[****]
Conservative Prospects.[****]
Niebuhr.[****]
Russia as it was in the Summer and Winter of 1812.[****]
Plato’s Republic.[***]
Sir Robert Peel’s Position on Next Resuming Power.[****]
Homer and the Homeridæ.[***]
Canton Expedition and Convention.[****]
1842.
Philosophy of Herodotus.[***]
The Pagan Oracles.
Sir Robert Peel’s Policy.[****]
Cicero.
Modern Greece.
Goethe.
Pope.
Schiller.
Shakspeare.
Anti-Corn Law Deputation to Sir Robert Peel.[****]
The Riots.
Ricardo Made Easy; or, What is the Radical Difference Between Ricardo and Adam Smith?.[****]
1843.
The Aristocracy Of England.
The Repeal Agitation.
The Last Session Of Parliament.
Ceylon.
The Game Up With Repeal Agitation.
1844.
The Logic Of Political Economy.
Secession From The Church Of Scotland.
Ireland.
Affghanistan.
Greece Under The Romans.
1845.
Coleridge And Opium-Eating.
Suspiria De Profundis: Being A Sequel To The Confessions Of An English Opium-Eater.
Maynooth.
On Wordsworth’s Poetry.
On The Temperance Movement Of Modern Times.
Notes On Gilfillan’s ‘Gallery Of Literary Portraits.’
1846.
The Antigone Of Sophocles, As Represented On The Edinburgh Stage In December 1845.
Memoirs And Corresponderce Of The Marquess Wellesley.
On Christianity, As An Organ Of Political Movement.
Glance At The Works Of Mackintosh.
System Of The Heavens As Revealed By Lord Rosse’s Telescopes.
1847.
Notes On Walter Savage Landor.
Orthographic Mutineers.[****]
Joan Of Arc.
Milton Versus Southey And Landor.
The Nautico-Military Nun Of Spain.
Secret Societies.
Schlosser’s Literary History Of The Eighteenth Century.
Conversation.
Protestantism.
1848.
War.
Sortilege on Behalf of the Glasgow Athenaeum.[****]
The Life And Adventures Of Oliver Goldsmith.
The Works Of Alexander Pope, Esquire.
Final Memorials Of Charles Lamb.
1849.
The English Mail-Coach; Or, The Glory Of Motion.
The Vision Of Sudden Death.
1850.
Conversation.[****]
The Sphinx’s Riddle.
Logic.[****]
Professor Wilson.
French And English Manners.
Presence Of Mind: A Fragment.
1851.
On The Present Stage Of The English Language.
A Sketch From Childhood.[****]
Lord Carlisle On Pope.
1852.
Sir William Hamilton, Bart.
California.
Sir William Hamilton, With A Glance At His Logical Reforms.
1853.
On The Supposed Scriptural Expression For Eternity.
Judas Iscariot.
Table-Talk. Dryden’s Hexastich.
Autobiographic Sketches.
Autobiographic Sketches [Vol.II].[****]
On the Final Catastrophe of the Gold-Digging Mania.[****]
How To Write English. Introductory Paper.
1856.
Shakspere’s Text.—Suetonius Unravelled.
Storms In English History: A Glance At The Reign Of Henry VIII.
1857.
The Lake Dialect.
China.[****]
Hints Towards An Appreciation Of The Coming War In China.
Hurried Notices Of Indian Affairs.
Passing Notices Of Indian Affairs.
1858.
Suggestions Upon The Secret Of The Mutiny.

And here’s the list of texts that are still missing:

Spoiler:

Contributions to the Westmorland Gazette
Articles for the Edinburgh Saturday Post, 1827–28
Articles for the Edinburgh Evening Post, 1828

At about 4800 (ADE) pages, this edition covers roughly 75% of the texts published in his lifetime. I will add some more in the future, but it is unlikely that this edition will ever be complete (well, it almost is; see updates). I take requests, though: should you be interested in any specific text currently missing here, please tell me and I’ll see what I can do.

I’ve made sure that this epub only includes the first published versions of his texts, most of which were reprinted in the American edition. So there won’t be any of the revised ones De Quincey produced for the English edition, Selections Grave and Gay from Writings Published and Unpublished (1853-60), nor the repunctuated and at times even censored texts of David Masson’s edition The Works of Thomas De Quincey (1889-90). I also won’t touch The Posthumous Works (1891-93) which Alexander Japp edited with a cut-and-paste approach, so there won’t be any manuscript transcriptions here (at least not until 2026, when better versions become public domain in Europe).

I have added two notes that were missing in the Gutenberg version of Confessions Of An English Opium-Eater and included all texts omitted from the Notes From The Pocket Book Of A Late Opium-Eater, which has been messed with by subsequent book editions.

The formatting has been checked and corrected, Greek words are restored, quotes are curly, footnotes are active, and fonts are embedded. The dates of first publication are noted for all texts. As De Quincey’s texts appeared anonymously in most cases, you’ll find his name/alias whenever they were attributed to him.

There are the usual inline tables of contents and links after each text/chapter to get back to the respective tables. Beside the chronological ToC there’s also an alphabetical index of the contained texts.

Enjoy,
pynch.


Update | v.2.0 | 9 Feb 2014
I have added 12 essays from the years 1823–35 (marked by an asterisk in the list above), which had not been collected in books before the Pickering & Chatto edition of his writings was released in 2001.

Update | v.3.0 | 14 Apr 2014
I have added the two essays from Essays on Philosophical Writers 2 (marked by two asterisks in the list above).

Update | v.4.0 | 27 Apr 2014
I have added the five essays from Historical and Critical Essays 1, so the texts from the first American edition of his writings are complete now. Additionally, there are 10 more essays from 1829–1832 (all marked ***).

Update | v.5.0 | 11 Jan 2015
I have added 24 essays, which complete the texts he published in magazines, and the second volume of Autobiographic Sketches (all marked ****).

Previous downloads: 347.

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[doubleshuffle]

Great. Thanks. One might be inclined to call this a heroic undertaking if one weren't indisposed due to being glued to the ottoman in an opium-induced trance.

[tempura]

As always your work is really appreciated. Thank you so much for this.

[pynch]

I have added 12 essays from the years 1823-35 (marked by an asterisk in the list above), which had not been collected in books before the Pickering & Chatto edition of his writings was released in 2001.

[pynch]

I have added the two long essays from Essays on Philosophical Writers 2: “Life of Richard Bentley, D D by J H Monk, D D” and “Dr Parr and his Contemporaries.” More will follow.

[pynch]

I have added the five essays from Historical and Critical Essays 1, so the texts from the first American edition of his writings are complete now. Additionally, there are 10 more essays from 1829–1832.

[pynch]

1000 more pages: I have added 24 essays, which complete the texts he published in magazines, and the second volume of Autobiographic Sketches. Now, only the shorter texts he published in newspapers are missing from this collection.