HUXLEY, Aldous. Les Portes de la Perception

(Monaco): Editions du Rocher, 1954. First French edition. Translated from the English by Jules Castier with additional material not included in the UK / U.S. first editions. The book that inaugurated the Psychedelic Age, and one of the finest accounts ever written of a drug experience. The book takes the form of Huxley’s recollection of a mescaline trip that took place over the course of an afternoon, he not only articulates the astonishing personal experience of altered consciousness but, by placing the experience in a proper historical context, gave a seriousness and dignity to psychedelics that profoundly influenced a generation of self-experimenters. This is a near fine, partially uncut, copy in printed wrappers with publisher’s promotional sheet laid-in. This copy inscribed and dated by the author in the year of publication. Whilst Huxley’s signature is not uncommon, signed / inscribed copies of this work are rarely seen.