Tobacco and Pipe Literature: New Book

Ben Rapaport · Dec 4, 2024

Well, two and half years have passed since I published An Intimate History of the Tobacco Industry, 1850-1920. Now, I have a new book coming off the press this month: The Wide World of Wood Tobacco Pipes. Two Centuries of Craftsmanship and Creativity. It is a limited edition of 125 numbered (and signed, if the buyer desires), 366 pages, more than 400 color illustrations of pre-briar, carved wood pipes, mostly European.

Contents: a chapter on European pipes, three chapters illustrating three private European collections, a chapter on Sophia Isberg, a 19th century Swedish carver, a chapter on the Alice de Rothschild collection, chapter on American Civil War pipes and one on Boer War pipes, a chapter devoted to two British museum collections, a chapter on North-American pipes, a chapter of the ethnographic pipes of Africa, and a chapter illustrating novelty pipes. An Appendix contains a list of museums around the globe that exhibit/own various types of antique pipes. This era in pipe history has never before been recounted or illustrated in any pipe book in English or in any foreign language.

Questions? Contact me: [email protected]

MLBbreton · Dec 6, 2024

Ben Rapaport said:
Well, two and half years have passed since I published An Intimate History of the Tobacco Industry, 1850-1920. Now, I have a new book coming off the press this month: The Wide World of Wood Tobacco Pipes. Two Centuries of Craftsmanship and Creativity. It is a limited edition of 125 numbered (and signed, if the buyer desires), 366 pages, more than 400 color illustrations of pre-briar, carved wood pipes, mostly European.

Contents: a chapter on European pipes, three chapters illustrating three private European collections, a chapter on Sophia Isberg, a 19th century Swedish carver, a chapter on the Alice de Rothschild collection, chapter on American Civil War pipes and one on Boer War pipes, a chapter devoted to two British museum collections, a chapter on North-American pipes, a chapter of the ethnographic pipes of Africa, and a chapter illustrating novelty pipes. An Appendix contains a list of museums around the globe that exhibit/own various types of antique pipes. This era in pipe history has never before been recounted or illustrated in any pipe book in English or in any foreign language.

Questions? Contact me: [email protected]

How does one get one? Do you have a link to buy it. Same with your other book please.

Ben Rapaport · Dec 6, 2024

Sir: I am selling it. All you need do is contact me at my email address: [email protected], and I can advise how to pay. Before you commit, do you have any questions? As to my other books, unfortunately, I have only one for sale: Tobacco Art and History Museum Guide Book. Three are published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd: A Complete Guide to Collecting Antique Pipes, Collecting Antique Meerschaums, and The European Porcelain Tobacco Pipe which are available from the publisher or, perhaps, used copies on eBay. Oh, the price is $75 plus postage.

MLBbreton · Dec 7, 2024

Ben Rapaport said:
Sir: I am selling it. All you need do is contact me at my email address: [email protected], and I can advise how to pay. Before you commit, do you have any questions? As to my other books, unfortunately, I have only one for sale: Tobacco Art and History Museum Guide Book. Three are published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd: A Complete Guide to Collecting Antique Pipes, Collecting Antique Meerschaums, and The European Porcelain Tobacco Pipe which are available from the publisher or, perhaps, used copies on eBay. Oh, the price is $75 plus postage.

MLBbreton · Dec 7, 2024

It's Michael and I'll be back in touch about buying a copy. I'll start to look at the others as well.
I love books. They're safe as long as an eReader can't give off that book smell

Nice to meet you.

Ben Rapaport · Dec 7, 2024

Sir: whether you purchase my book or not, it's a pleasure to know someone else who enjoys owning real books. My disappointment, after being in this hobby for more than 50 years, is the recent trend that pipe people seem to prefer to invest in a lot in wood, not so much in word, and that is why I have chosen to print a small quantity of this book and my last in 2021, An Intimate History of the Tobacco Industry, 1850-1920. I've had online discussions with many on other websites who consider buying a pipe book, but state that they have a price in mind that cannot exceed "x." The price for An Intimate History was $27.50, and many felt that the price was too high, so I asked: "What kind of pipe can you buy for $27.50?"

Because we do not know each other, allow me to introduce myself, and the best way I know how is for you to access pipedia.org, Rapaport. On that website are the covers of the 10 books I have written. And, after the demise of Pipes & Tobaccos magazine in 2019, Scott Thile, an artisan pipe maker, welcomed my articles which I have been submitting since then on that website. BTW: I maintain a database, more aptly, a bibliography of all books published in English about pipes and tobaccos. Contact me via email, and I will gladly send you a copy, gratis. You may be surprised by its contents.