The contents are as follows.

(i) Manuscript of two articles, 'The vision of sudden death', and 'The dream fugue', published in "Blackwood's Magazine", December 1849. (Folio 1.)

(ii) Manuscript, undated, of an apparently unpublished article in the form of a letter "To the Editor of Blackwood's Magazine". This concerns his own article, 'On murder considered as one of the fine arts', published in "Blackwood's Magazine" in two parts, in February 1827, and November 1839. (Folio 33.)

(iii) Manuscript, undated, of an apparently unpublished article, 'On reform as affecting the habits of private life'. (Folio 37.)

(iv) Manuscript, undated, of an untitled and apparently unpublished article on P A Fonk, the murderer. (Folio 56.)

(v) Manuscript, ?1832, of an apparently unpublished article reviewing Thomas Gordon's 'History of the Greek revolution' (Edinburgh, 1832) volume ii. De Quincey's article on volume i of this work was published in "Blackwood's Magazine", April 1832. (Folio 63.)

(vi) Corrected proof of the first part of the article, 'Ricardo made easy', published in “Blackwood's Magazine”, September 1842. (Folio 101.)