A Universe of Tobacciana – The George Arents Collection
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Kevin Godbee - Apr 29, 2014
- 8 min read
Martin Hunter
Tucked away on the third floor of the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue are two Georgian-style, pine-paneled rooms, resembling those of a country manor house – which indeed they once were – that contain the finest array of tobacco-related material in the world: The George Arents, Jr. Collection.
Once you’ve made your way through the long, cabinet-walled reading room, you can sink into a cozy sofa near a fireplace which bears an engraved motto by Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “The man who smokes, thinks like a sage and acts like a Samaritan.” Over this Georgian mantle hangs a painting by the poet e.e. Cummings, of a pipesmoker. Thus comfortably seated, one has an urge to light up a pipe oneself (not allowed), take a sip of an ice-cold martini (not offered), and ask the curator of the Arents collection, Virginia Bartow, who was this major collector, and why did he choose tobacco for his subject?
“George Arents came from a multigenerational Virginia tobacco-growing family, whose firm was one of the founding members of the American Tobacco Company,” explains Bartow. Arents initially worked with the family firm, eventually patenting cigarette- and cigar-rolling machines, which he went on to manufacture and which eventually produced two thirds of the cigars smoked in this country. He moved from Virginia to New York, where his company had its headquarters and, in time, built an estate, ‘Hillbrook,’ in suburban Westchester County.
In 1893, as a young man of 17, while browsing in an antique bookshop, Arents purchased a pamphlet titled “A Pinch of Snuff,” for $2.25. This first purchase lit up – if you will – what was to become a burning passion for tobacciana, which continued throughout his life. Fascinated by all aspects of tobacco, Arents went on to collect not only books, but any item related to tobacco that appealed to his imagination and fancy. Shortly after his initial purchase, he bought a very rare and expensive volume published in 1507, Cosmographiae Introductio, which was written by Martin Waldesmuller, a young teacher in eastern France, who cites an account of explorer Amerigo Vespucci’s having observed Native Americans chewing a certain green plant. “This book remains the earliest printed reference to tobacco, and the year 1507 became for Arents the starting point of his collection,” explains Bartow.
From the 16th century onward, the use of tobacco, unknown to the world outside the Americas, spread eastward. Tobacco’s history, culture, use, and economy have become worldwide in the nearly 500 years since the plant’s discovery, and it was the written, painted, printed, etched, and manufactured tangible history of the subject of tobacco that fascinated and inspired George Arents to comb the world for his collection.
By the time Arents began his collecting, the number of books and objects relating to tobacco was already immense. It was necessary, therefore, for Arents to limit his collecting to what was both rare and – true for all collectors – what was interesting to him. Before Arents, there had been no systematic collecting of tobacco-related material, but with his passion and his fortune, Arents was able to accomplish this in 50 years. By 1952, five great illustrated volumes were published on the collection, and are themselves a monument of tobacco history: “Tobacco, its History Illustrated by Books, Manuscripts, and Engravings in the Library of George Arents, Jr.”
While Arents’ collection would ultimately contain thousands of volumes related to every aspect concerning tobacco, it by no means developed into only a library of books. Arents’ son, while driving in New England, spied a cigar store Indian which now is one of a pair – “he Squanto, she Pocahontas” – that greet visitors on their entry into the reading room.
Hans Neukmann, Habana Splendid poster (no date)
Systematically and endlessly, Arents carefully acquired items of every imaginable variety and use. There are 18th century snuff vending machines and tobacco pouches, as well as storing and carrying containers of many varieties from numerous periods in history. Sheet music, with allusions to smoking, art prints from the Renaissance to Monet and Van Gogh, picturing every aspect of smoking and chewing and sniffing tobacco, abound. The collection contains many thousands of cigar box labels and bands, as well as letters, manuscripts, and everything related to tobacco and smoking that delighted his fancy – and now ours.
As curator, Virginia Bartow, along with every curator since Arents’ death in 1960, has added to the Collection, keeping it current. “Every work must have some link to tobacco,” she indicates. And this relation is apparent, for instance, in a series of photographs portraying smoking writers, artists, and musicians, such as Peggy Lee and Bob Dylan.
Original Honus Wagner baseball card
The front reading room at the New York Public Library was in fact designed to complement the library in Arents’ Westchester home, and was constructed in 1943 when the collection came to the Library. The walls are lined with bookcases, and a number of objects are displayed as decoration. They include the aforementioned cigar store Indians, and a rare figure of a Scotsman holding a snuff box, which had originally been a street sign. The figure is rare because most such signs were destroyed in 1745, during the Scottish Rebellion. There are European and American tobacco pots, rasps, drying forms, humidors, pouches, and a plethora of pipes. There is one of 40 or so meerschaum pipes once owned by the writer Amy Lowell, although she herself was only known to smoke cigars. Less exotic, but more expensive, is an original Honus Wagner baseball card. A pristine example of the same card fetched over $450,000 at auction a few years ago, when purchased by hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and then Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall. These cards were originally given out as premiums in packs of Sweet Caporal cigarettes. And there is a quaint little brass box which opened, several centuries ago, at the drop of a penny, to dispense a pinch of snuff. Speaking of snuff, we also find the pewter snuff box that Charles Dickens carried with him on speaking tours.
A rare figure of a Scotsman holding a snuff box
That Shakespeare never mentioned either tobacco or smoking (although the pipe was already flourishing in his day), was a fact that proved initially frustrating to Arents. However, he was more than able to satisfy himself with the countless allusions to the happy habit occurring in other literature. While it would be impossible to list even a fraction of these works, Arents purchased many unique items, such as James the First of England’s “Counterblaste to Tobacco,” of 1604 (a copy of which took Arents 30 years to find). There are thousands of examples in general and fictional literature in both printed and manuscript form. The collection includes both the handwritten manuscript and original typescript of Oscar Wilde’s, The Importance of Being Earnest, which contains the wonderful scene between Worthing and Lady Bracknell, where she grills him unmercifully to determine his matrimonial suitability for her daughter. Questioned about whether or not he smoked, Worthing replies in the affirmative. “I am glad to hear it,” she counters. “A man should always have an occupation of some kind.” It’s perhaps one of the most famous, and surely one of the funniest, literary allusions to smoking. Additionally, there are works by Shaw and Waugh and Faulkner, among others, representing the literature of this century. The collection now contains over 10,000 books and 1,000 manuscripts of every conceivable variety and interest – all with mentions of tobacco or smoking.
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Although Columbus mentioned smoking in his journal, he did not know what tobacco was called. One can discover this by visiting the collection and researching any area of interest or pleasure. For example, there is a letter written by George Washington in 1762 discussing a shipment of his tobacco, or writings of Thomas Jefferson, whose wealth also derived from the sale of tobacco. Arents once said in a lecture, “Where there’s smoke, there’s literature.” And a friend once told him, “If I had a library like yours, I’d puff with pride.” Although Arents was passionate about tobacco and everything related to it , he never smoked!
Continuing our research, we learn that smoking was probably introduced to Europe by Sir John Hawkins, who returned to England after he and his men, while on an expedition to Florida, saw French colonists smoking the weed. This would make the Sunshine State the first American destination for smoking European visitors. The French obviously liked it, for they have been smoking heavily ever since.
But it was initially in England where tobacco, following a brief period of belief in its medicinal properties, had its most extensive use. Jerome E. Brooks, the author of the original five-volume catalogue, wrote in the Library’s “Bulletin” in January 1944, about the developing trend of English pipesmoking: “The smoking habit, by the early part of the 17th century, had developed into a national recreation … the impetus to the habit, after it had become pretty well established in seaport towns and among English mariners, was given to Sir Walter Raleigh. He introduced neither the plant nor the custom into England, but he was the first advertiser on a national scale of the joys and benefits of smoking, and his encouragement of the habit added a host of smokers to the then small ranks. He’s said to have taught Queen Elizabeth the proper use of the pipe, and his literary friends and associates furthered the cause of their favorable reference as a beneficial social pleasure.”
One of writer Amy Lowell’s meerchaum pipes
Initially in 1943, and until his death in 1960, George Arents continually donated new works to this unique treasure trove at the library, which was conveniently across the street from his office. He dropped in most days to visit his collection, as we may do ourselves when the spirit so moves. But first, tap out your pipe before entering.
PipeSMOKE – Spring 98
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Well there’s nothing like a touch of the plague to usher in the changing season. Leaving the airport just when the first advertisements for all things pumpkin spice began to appear—lattes, muffins, shampoos, trash bags, and myriad other concoctions—so, too, my ability to breathe freely disappeared. The unfortunate side effect of losing one’s sense of taste and smell for weeks is the utter inability to enjoy tobacco. Not that I consider myself an expert on anything but my own tastes, but be forewarned that this review was made with mildly impugned sensory equipment. Just when a comforting pipe was most needed, its comfort was denied. Be that as it may, the road to recovery found me limping along on one lung this past month, trying to wrest the particulars of two blends on offer from Sutliff: the latest 175th Anniversary blend, Silver Quarter, as well as their spooky seasonal Maple Shadows II. Silver Quarter is a new style on offer from Sutliff, their first coin-cut blend. Naturally a Virginia-Perique, it is enhanced with a traditional core of black Cavendish. In the tin it holds much promise, with a lightly bready and very woody, if ever-so-slightly sour, aroma. After some time acclimating to air, the bouquet softens further and offers hints of the burley with some chocolaty notes wafting through the more dominant dry grassy aspect. The tin art is of a coin-style bas-relief bust, presumably of a founding Sutliff brother, à la The Old Boss On the reverse of the tin we find the blend’s description: Reflecting on Sutliffs 175 years of tobacco excellence, we came across a brand that embodies true value, SILVER QUARTER. This name pays homage to Sutliffs roots, the legacy of two brothers who popularized pipe smoking in the burgeoning mining society of San Francisco. We celebrate this heritage with a coin cut composed of the finest African Virginias, complemented by a core of Perique and Black Cavendish. The tin notes are, forgive the pun, on the nose for a good VaPer blend: mild tart sweetness peeking out from behind dried hay and slight chocolate undertones, with a lightly tannic finish of weathered oak. It is always a joy to prepare a coin cut, my preference being to put a few in my palm and vigorously warm my hands together to fully break them apart. These well-formed discs pack and light easily, and smoke with little prodding to the end of the bowl. For technical points it scores well—it smokes light, and it’s easy to tend the ember. While it gets sharp after a few quick bowls, pacing should be heeded to easily smoke down to the heel without inviting bite. Of the flavor, though, I am left a bit wanting. There are tart and high notes aplenty, but very little of the lemony citrus I would anticipate, as well as scant midtones; they tend more toward the red wine-vinegary and sour. The flavors are muted, also, lacking the sweetness and piquancy of other marques—the small measure of Perique tickles the nose now and again with peppery hints, and there is a smidge of a deeper sweetness to be found in the Cavendish from puff to puff, but overall it lacks some dynamism. The Virginias, to my palate, come off a bit on the dry side, and here they dominate the blend. The aftertaste and mouthfeel are neutral, again evincing more of the dry, woody, tartly tannic end of the spectrum. The blend has plenty of polish, but not enough depth or richness (*yet) to make it a standout. Here, comparisons are inevitable: Luxury Bullseye Flake has more sweetness, both from its Virginia as well as its Cavendish, and a better finish; Davidoff is similar but with a pronounced umami that is absent here; as for Escudo, I haven’t had any fresh tins lately so it would be unfair to compare. While it rates as a solid, fairly mild smoke, particularly to lovers of the genre, it does not surprise with any exceptional flavors. To be fair, all the boxes have been checked for the blend to benefit from some real aging, and it would be worth checking in on this after a couple of years sealed away. I’ve set half my tin aside to sample again in a month or two, in case I’m merely suffering from the lingering effects of parosmia, and will amend this review in that case. Maple Shadows II, on the other hand, made up for the weeks of sniffling and sneezing I’d endured. Offered in a full 8 ounce tin with delightfully spooky Halloween art, it’s (hopefully) enough to last through the season. Somehow I had missed this last year, so it’s a real pleasure to get some in my candy bucket this year. As the chilling winds of autumn draw eerie prattle from contorted, deciduous limbs, we find ourselves possessed by the spirit of the season. Bewitched by a dissonant charm, we’ve created Maple Shadows. In a season that is defined by the unlikely harmony of treats and frights, we’ve joined the enchanting sweetness of maple with the earthy spice of Dark Fired Kentucky for a smoking experience that captures the senses with an otherworldly fusion of flavor. This may be the best aromatic blend Sutliff’s ever made—and they make a ton of them. First off, it’s not overbearing in the least—quite the opposite, it is also one of the more restrained aromatics they’ve ever made, with a clear but very light topping that melds oh-so-well with their choice Kentucky added to the mix. Opening the tin, the sweet maple is up front and center, but so too is the must of fallen leaves, bready pie crusts, and a crackling fire in the hearth—a perfect invocation of Herbstdüfte in a can. Packing best in an open and capacious bowl, the flavoring is subtle, and recedes to the background while puffing. With a sweet coffee or tea to accompany, the aftertaste of the maple is reinvigorated on the palate […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 632. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the host of the Pipe & Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the days before, during and after the Las Vegas International Pipe Show. We will hear about their travels to the show and the anxiety of Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida at the same time while running a show and not knowing if your house is going to be there when you get home. In the end, the show went great and our homes survived, although many others in Florida were not so lucky. We’ll have clips from the show, and shoutouts to other podcasts and vlogs that were broadcasting from the pipe show.
Vegas Baby The show started out strong on the 14th floor hospitality suites hosted by the Vegas Pipe Show and Smoking Pipes as well as room hopping to carvers, estate sellers, and vendors to pre-game for the festivities. If you’re interested in what that looks like I’ll refer you to last years pipe show round up. I circled with Brian Levine to get the totals in comparison to last year: This year’s show numbers: 108 Exhibitor tables, 445 attendees, 3,250 Raffle Tickets, 100ish dinners, 172 Rooms in the Hotel. Last year, by comparison, 107 exhibitor tables, 425 attendees, 2,200 raffle tickets, 104 dinners, and 175 rooms on Friday and Saturday nights. We were at capacity, basically, when it came to vendor tables and the dinner, so there is no physical room for growth at this point except for attendees. That said, we filled that smoking lounge to the brim. New Carvers Spotlight Garret Woo (Pipes by Woo) How long have you been carving? Garret: I’ve been carving since 2021, and I’m guessing your next question is probably how’d you get started carving? James: Yes. Garret: In 2021 I took a break from my full time job – that included machining and assembly work and I thought maybe it was time I made something that I would like and I started looking at youtube and Instagram and putting together my shop. I did struggle on the stems to start and there was a lot of failure at the beginning. James: How many pipes have you made so far? Garret: I number my pipes, so I just finished up 186. James: What is your favorite shape you’ve been making? Garret: I really dig Canadians and pipes with longer shanks and lovat Canadian blends. I like to play with different shapes of stems on the longer shanked pipes. The billiard would be my go-to shape but I want to learn more techniques on freehanded shapes. I like to put brass and copper adornments on my pipes with my machining background it helps. James: What is the craziest thing you’ve seen at this show? Garret: The first thing that comes to mind is the table over there with C-Pipes with the shapes and the size and petiteness and the intricate details they did. You can check out what Garret is working on by going to his Instagram. Stefan Cashwell James: how long have you been carving? Stefan: about 3 years. James: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at the show? Stefan: The Adam Davidson pipe with the clear shape and the bamboo—I don’t know if it’s 3D printed or what, but it’s amazing. James: What’s your favorite shape to do? Stefan: That’s a tough question. I think they’re all the same shape, but what’s fascinating is that Dublin, volcano, and blowfish are all the same depending on how you turn them. Playing with that, with all its variations, is a lot of fun. My favorite accent to use is also horn; it’s finicky, but it’s a great accent on pipes. You can check out Stefan’s work on his Instagram. Science: Meet Pipes I chatted with Chris from the San Diego Pipe Club; he started off doing stem replacements for estate pipes but also improved the airflow. James: How are you doing 3d printing? What is the thought process? Chris: It’s a 3D-printed pipe with a briar insert. The design is a calabash meets a Peterson system meets a metal Falcon/Kirsten radiator style. It is a bottom draft smoking bowl like a radiator like those metal pipes. The inside chamber is a calabash. The stummel and accent rings in the stems are all 3d printed. The insert is briar, olive wood, or I have the potential to use meerschaum as well. This idea came about through the San Diego Pipe Club, wanting to see if we could 3D print a pipe and being curious about the technology; I have a printer and design ability, so here we are. James: What’s the type of plastic you’re using? Chris: It’s all PLA plastic, a renewable potato starch plastic that is food-safe. The stummels are printed with a plastic that has wood in it 40% wood fiber, bamboo, rosewood, ebony, redwood, and walnut are the woods I’m printing. For the accent rings I just got a new material that I’m printing that has 40% copper, so its real metal that you can sand, and polish the same as wood filament. The stems are 3d printed as well. The concept is renewable and cheap from a production standpoint, with the ability to make a very high quality smoking pipe based on the experience. By combining the calabash system pipe and bottom draft hole and using 3d simulations to see airflow, I can see where I’m having eddies and ripples in my current, and see where my moisture and all the particles are dropping back out from a vapor to a liquid. Most people who have tried these say the stems are clean, and they don’t even have to run a pipe cleaner afterward because everything collects at the bottom. Chris has also been experimenting with color-changing plastics so you can see the hotspots. Chris said he was able to use this to slow down his cadence, which, of course, could mean you could get a slow-smoke training pipe to teach yourself to perform better. If you’re interested in learning more or want to check one out, you can contact him on Instagram: Copper Beard Pipe Works The Negative Space The show was buzzing about one specific pipe, which had everyone guessing how it was made. I chatted with Adam Davidson briefly about it. James: How did this idea come to fruition? Adam Davidson: Smokingpipes.com had an expo back in August open to all of the makers they carry. The theme was to make a pipe utilizing bamboo. Given that the last time we had the expo I made a smooth Almond with three bamboo shanks, […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 631. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with pipe maker Dan Keller from Good Made Better. Dan is from South Dakota. Growing up working in the family hardware store where he was always finding solutions to fixing things, he ended up always wanting to make things. He now makes elegant handmade pens, pen holders, portable desks, blotters, blotting paper, book carry cases, and of course artisan pipes. At the top of the show we are continuing the virtual tour of Brian’s pipes with his “f#@k you pipes”.
That is a great read Kevin, thanks for reviving it
Excellent morning read. Thanks.
As a follow-up, here is a link to some digital scans of his collection of artwork.
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgdivisionbrowseresult.cfm?div_id=hsa
Another must see place in NYC.
Gotta keep this on the down low less the smoking Nazis decide to purge the collection for the good of the children.
An amazing place and an amazing description of such a vast array of a collection.
Wow kevin thanks for the history read loved it.
Much thanks to Alan Schwartz & Kevin Godbee for making these archived articles available to us.
+1 petergunn. Wouldn’t that be a tragedy? Great article Kevin. Thank you
Enjoyable read indeed.
Many thanks.
well kids pack your bags daddy is taking us to new york
I finally have a reason to revisit the Big Apple!
The article implies that you can just wander into the room housing the Arents collection and take a gander. Maybe I’m reading a bit too much into it, or maybe restrictions were different 16 years ago when this article was published, but nowadays getting in is a more involved.
If you’re from out of town you have to register in advance, answering all sorts of nosy questions to establish bona fides and tell them exactly what you want to do in there (if you’re local you can sometimes register on the spot, but the book you’re looking for may not be readily available). Then when you arrive you find that the door is kept locked; you have to knock discreetly and hope that one of the attendees can hear you and lets you in (the password, by the way, is “swordfish”).
Once inside you show government issued photo id, sign some paperwork, and wait for them to fetch whatever it is you want to look at. Depending on the book, they’ll offer you pencils (no pens are allowed), a cloth covered weight to gently keep the pages open, and I think white gloves (I’m not sure about the last; it’s been a couple of years since I visited).
Oh, and if you cough too loudly they beat you senseless with a small lead statue of Alfred Dunhill. Just kidding about the last part; or I think I am. I never wanted to take the chance of coughing and find out.
All in all an amazing collection, and a neat experience visiting the room in which it’s housed. But seriously it’s a bit more complicated than just wandering inside on a whim.
Thanks for re-posting this very interesting article. 2 questions though, Arents paid $2.25 for a pamphlet in 1893? That would have been a small fortune, no? And #2, I’d like to read more about the antique snuff vending machines, any tips as to where to search?