In true De Quinceyian spirit, I am indebted to those who came before me. Without the scholarship of Grevel Lindop, readers of Thomas De Quincey would still be snowed-in beneath mountains of disordered material. The fine biographies by Grevel Lindop and Robert Morrison, The Opium-Eater and The English Opium Eater, were my constant guides, as was John Barrell’s rich and provocative study, The Infection of Thomas De Quincey.
For reading and correcting the manuscript I am grateful to Paul Keegan and A. N. Wilson. Thanks are also due to the staff of the Rare Books Room of the British Library, William St Clair, Ada Wordsworth, my agent, Sarah Chalfant, my editor, Michael Fishwick, my copyeditor, Kate Johnson, and to the irreplaceable Anna Simpson.