Havelock Ellis was a British physician, psychologist and writer, social reformer and progressive intellectual who studied the history of human sexuality. Together with Albert Moll and Richard von Krafft-Ebing he was one of the founders of sexology. He co-authored the first English medical textbook on homosexuality in 1897 and also published works on various sexual practices and inclinations, as well as transgender psychology; he is also credited with having first introduced the terms narcissism and autoeroticism, later also adopted by psychoanalysis. The use of events from his inner and outer life and the discussion of his wife's life led him to write his own autobiography. He also claims that the autobiography was written to help others gain insight not only into his life, but into life itself.

Volume 1 of a set of 4.