Thomas De Quincey

Describing the surreal hallucinations, insomnia and nightmarish visions he experienced while consuming daily large amounts of laudanum, Thomas De Quincey's legendary account of the pleasures and pains of opium forged a link between artistic self-expression and addiction. It paved the way for later generations of literary drug-takers from Baudelaire to Burroughs. Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is a seminal narrative...

Little Black Classics - the new series to celebrate Penguin's 80th anniversary On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts explores the macabre world of murder as an art form. The author enthralls readers with his satirical and darkly humorous discourse. 'People begin to see that something more goes to the composition of a fine murder than two blockheads...