Opium: A Portrait of the Heavenly Demon – Barbara Hodgson
NF/NF

For sale: a rare and exceptional edition, first printing hardcover copy of Opium: A Portrait of the Heavenly Demon by Barbara Hodgson. First  Edition unstated, 1999 Chronicle House. First Printing with full number line reversed, 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.

The book is in Near Fine condition with clean, cloth boards, with strong title gilt on a straight spine and on the illustrated front cover. Also, a few smudges on the page blocks, a tight binding, mild spine tilt, lightly rounded spine ends, mild edge wear, and strong corners. The interior of the book is also in Near Fine condition with the ghost of an erased price on the half title page. No other marks, inscriptions, or other signs of ownership inside, including the faux, illustrated bookplate on the first free end paper which is left blank. The end papers and the interior pages are clean and bright, making it an excellent addition to any collection.

The dust jacket is a half-sleeve wrap the covers most of the rear board, leaving the attractive front cover free. The paper wrap is in Near Fine condition with the price on top, and mild surface and edge wear.

With its connotations of mystery and sinister beauty, opium holds a near mythical place in the popular imagination. From swaying poppy fields to dimly lit, smoke-laden opium dens, author Barbara Hodgson traces the path of opium’s creation and consumption, and describes how it has been alternately rhapsodized, demonized, and anointed. A seductive muse that fueled the visions of artists, writers, and poets including Baudelaire, Coleridge, Wilde, and Poe, opium was also used in hundreds of commonly consumed patent medicines. Today, opium remains one of the most widely trafficked drugs and its story is by turns strange, comic, and dark. Illuminated by an amazing array of archival photographs, rare engravings, movie stills, and lurid dime store book covers, Opium is an engrossing look at this illicit indulgence.