Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Final Exit

1991 book by Derek Humphry

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera — Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas

Record originEnglish Wikipedia

Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0

Source revisionJun 2, 2026

Entity authoritySource title only

Source-derived summary

Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying, often shortened to just Final Exit, is a 1991 book written by Derek Humphry, a British-born American journalist, author, and assisted suicide advocate who co-founded the (defunct) Hemlock Society in 1980 and co-founded the Final Exit Network in 2004. The book was published in 1991 by the Hemlock Society US in hardback. The following year, its 2nd edition was published by Dell in trade paperback. An updated edition was published in 2010.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Final Exit” as 1991 book by Derek Humphry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Final, Exit and book.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1991, 1980, 2004, 2010—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Final, Exit and book providing the first useful test.

Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Final Exit”, the useful work is to connect “1991 book by Derek Humphry” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 2, 2026. The first chronological checks are 1991, 1980, 2004 and 2010.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for

Identifying works and editions
Tracing reception history
Finding collection records

Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

Establish the record: confirm the title “Final Exit”, its source revision and the description used here.
Expand the search: follow Final Exit primary sources, Final Exit archive and Final research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Final Exit”?
Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?

Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Final Exit history →Final Exit primary sources →Final Exit archive →Final research →Exit research →book research →Derek research →

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Final Exit” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.