Collecting Opium July 5, 2013 – Posted in: Exhibits

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…

Sisters In Opium: Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Louisa May Alcott January 14, 2010

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 –…