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Fitz Hugh Ludlow "The Hasheesh Eater" (1857 1st Edition)
Lot 190

Fitz Hugh Ludlow "The Hasheesh Eater" (1857 1st Edition)

Estimate: $400 - $800
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Starting Bid
$200
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Fitz Hugh Ludlow

The Hasheesh Eater, 1857

Pub. Harper & Brothers, New York

1st edition

7 3/4" x 5 1/2"

 

Stamped brown cloth boards. Known as the first American entry into drug literature, The Hasheesh Eater inspired much interest in cannabis use, resulting in the proliferation of private hashish parlors in every major city in the United States. Soon after the book's publication, hashish candy was advertised in newspapers. Though the cultural influence of Ludlow's work waned with cannabis prohibition in the USA, it was rediscovered and celebrated particularly from the 1950s through 70s, adopted as a text for the counterculture of beatniks and hippies.

 

The Hasheesh Eater describes in great detail the author's personal experience with altered states stimulated by cannabis extract. In one passage, Ludlow describes the appeal of drug-induced states as one of spiritual longing: "There is one ground upon which the righteousness of the tendency toward stimulants may be upheld without the fear of any dangerous side-issues, namely, the fact that it proves, almost as powerfully as any thing lower than direct revelation, man's fitness by constitution and destiny by choice, for a higher set of circumstances than the present. [...] That of which we speak is something far higher -- the perception of the soul’s capacity for a broader being, deeper insight, grander views of Beauty, Truth and Good than she now gains through the chinks of her cell."

 

Among the book's advocates was fantasy horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, who once wrote: "Have I read Fitzhugh Ludlow's Hasheesh Eater? Why, Sir, I possess it upon mine own shelves; and wou'd not part with it for any inducement whatever! I have frequently reread those phantasmagoria of exotic colour, which proved more of a stimulant to my own fancy than any vegetable alkaloid ever grown and distilled. The reeling panoramas out of space and time have an unmistakable tinge of authenticity, and even the metaphysical speculations were far from arid."

Condition

The text block is in good condition, with mild aging and occasional spots. The cover is in poor condition, noting heavy rubbing and moisture staining to the cloth, and a split joint with resulting partially loose spine.

Overall Dimensions
Height: 7.75 in
Width: 5.50 in
Depth: 1.00 in

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