The Chinese Opium Smoker

The illustrations depict the gradual downfall of a opium smoker commencing with a man on a couch in his mansion, followed by images of the dissipation of the man who becomes a victim of the drug and eventually leaves home and becomes a homeless beggar. It's believed that the sketches were made by a Christian Chinaman named Tai and later published by the Chinese Anti-Opium Society of Canton. The pictures were sent to England and published with an English translation in the 1870s. This enlarged edition includes a letter by Commissioner Lin to the Queen of England. Reverend Frederick Storrs Turner was the founder of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade, and the editor of the Society's newspaper "Friend of China.