Brooks, Jerome E.

Tobacco: Its History Illustrated by the Books, Manuscripts and Engravings in the Library of George Arents, Jr. [five-volume set]

New York: The Rosenbach Company, 1937-1943. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Five-volume set. 543, 564, 545, 485 & 327pp. Folio [34.5 cm] in rust-colored cloth with gilt-stamped brown leather spine labels. Spine labels on Volumes One and Two are lightly scuffed, with small bits of some papery substance stubbornly adhering to them; these two labels are also of a lighter and more reddish brown than those of the remainder of the set; boards are crisp and unworn; light soiling to textblock foot of Vol. Three, else interiors are clean, tight, and bright. Lavishly illustrated with B&W reproductions and some color plates; folding chart present in pocket on rear pastedown of Vol. Four. Item #51890

Edition limited to 300 copies, of which this is hand-numbered 221.

Beautifully produced bibliography of George Arents, Jr.'s collection of tobacco-related books and ephemera, which at the time of publishing spanned the years 1507 to 1942 and is described by the New York Public Library (where the collection now resides) as "the largest and most comprehensive library in the world devoted to the history, literature, and lore of tobacco". Arents, who manufactured cigarette- and cigar-rolling machines, came from a long line of Virginia tobacco-growers. He purchased the first item in his collection at age seventeen.


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Price: $500.00