Autograph Letter, Signed, to London Magazine editor John Taylor

De Quincey, Thomas

Published by [Grasmere, U.K.], 1821

About this Item

This short, previously unrecorded letter to John Taylor, the editor of the London Magazine, was written just after Taylor had published the second part of De Quincey's anonymous, autobiographical Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, and serves as an update on his next article for the magazine, the subject of which was the German author Johann Paul Friedrich Richter (1763-1825). De Quincey, very much engaged on his topic, states that he has written too much: "My sketch of the Revolution of Germ. Lit. grew into such a size, I was obliged to reserve so much as is done for another occasion. This Introd. is in an airy sly laughing style. and I have therefore given it the form of a letter: Best Cut out the Date, or any part whatsoever without scruple. Half a page is wanting to complete it: for which if you could send in 1½ hour, it shall be quite ready." The article was eventually published in the December 1821 issue of the London Magazine (pp. 606-12), under the pseudonym "Grasmeriensis Teutonizans," which translates roughly as "The Germanizing Man of Grasmere," a mischievous nod not only to De Quincey's love of German literature, but also his location, the village of Grasmere in the English Lake District. Small folded leaf, recto and verso, 2 pp. total text.

Seller Inventory # 377011

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Autograph Letter, Signed, to London Magazine editor John Taylor
• Publisher: [Grasmere, U.K.]
• Publication Date: 1821