The drug of choice for most of the world in the 19th century was Opium. The Western powers cultivated it, created demand for it in the East and then went to war to suppress it leaving a trail of carnage and opium addicts in their wake. Maggs Bros. Ltd. of London is currently offering what it believes is "the finest collection on the subject" ever assembled. The Santo Domingo Opium Collection is comprised of over 3,000 items, gathered over decades of collecting. The collection contains extensive historical documentation as well as "a huge collection of objects, including material of the highest quality and the most...
Sisters In Opium: Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Louisa May Alcott
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, radiant opium addict.“I am writing such poems - allegorical - philosophical - poetical - ethical - synthetically arranged! I am in a fit of writing - could write all day & night - and long to live by myself for three months in a forest of chestnuts & cedars, in an hourly succession of poetical paragraphs & morphine draughts.” - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, to her brother, 1843.“Opium - opium - night after night!” - Elizabeth Barrett Browning.“Heaven bless hashish, if dreams end like this!” - Louisa May Alcott, Perilous Play (1869).Of delicate constitution to begin with, Elizabeth...