RIP Bacon's!

[4dotsasieni]

I just found out, to my horror and dismay, that the famous Bacon's Tobacconists, of Cambridge, UK, founded in the 1860's, went out of business in 1983. This is the place where I bought by eponymous 4dot Sasieni, still one of my favourite pipes, in 1980.
The plaque with the famous ode to the shop still stands on the building, now occupied by a "French Connection" boutique:
Calverley's Ode To Tobacco
(Written in Cambridge in 1862)
A Tribute to This Firm
Thou who, when fears attack,

Bidst them avaunt, and Black

Care, at the horseman's back

Perching, unseatest;

Sweet, when the morn is grey;

Sweet, when they've cleared away

Lunch; and at close of day

Possibly sweetest:
I have a liking old

For thee, though manifold

Stories, I know, are told,

Not to thy credit;

How one (or two at most)

Drops make a cat a ghost -

Useless, except to roast -

Doctors have said it:
How they who use fusees

All grow by slow degrees

Brainless as chimpanzees,

Meagre as lizards;

Go mad, and beat their wives;

Plunge (after shocking lives)

Razors and carving knives

Into their gizzards.
Confound such knavish tricks!

Yet know I five or six

Smokers who freely mix

Still with their neighbours;

Jones - (who, I'm glad to say,

Asked leave of Mrs. J. -)

Daily absorbs a clay

After his labours.
Cats may have had their goose

Cooked by tobacco-juice;

Still why deny its use

Thoughtfully taken?

We're not as tabbies are:

Smith, take a fresh cigar!

Jones, the tobacco-jar!

Here's to thee, Bacon!

 

[misterlowercase]

Tis sad to see these things fade away, but hurrah the plaque still stands!
A brilliant poem!

I'd never heard of C. S. Calverley nor read this poem, so many thanks for posting it.
A fine well-wrought verse that made me smile wide in wits, yet sadly we are at battle with similar forces operating today, the mouth-foaming anti-tobaccoites and their moralistic crusade.
"Cats may have had their goose

Cooked by tobacco-juice"

..............................this bit I wouldn't have head or tails of, but I have a couple of copies of Cope's Smoke Room Booklets where it speaks of the nicotine experiments carried out by the Anti-Tobacco Society in the late 1800's, totally wicked I say:
Two drops of oil of tobacco, placed on the tongue, were sufficient to destroy life in cats which had been brought up, as it were, in the midst of tobacco smoke, in three or four minutes. Three drops, rubbed on the tongue of a full-sized cat, killed it in less than three minutes. Two drops on the tongue of a red squirrel, destroyed it in one minute. A small puncture made in the tip of the nose with a surgeon's needle, bedewed with the oil of tobacco, caused death in six minutes.
"Dr. Franklin ascertained," says Dr. Mussey, "the the oily material which floats on the surface of water after a stream of tobacco smoke has been passed through it, is capable, when applied to the tongue of a cat, of destroying life in a few minutes."



(You can find some of their inane drivelling online, same 'ol song)
It's awesome that plaque still exists within the current cultural climate of the anti-UK,

thumbnosing all the day long!
Bacon also paid homage to Calverley by naming a tobacco after him:

Here's to thee, Bacon!

 

[teufelhund]

Thanks for the history lesson fellas!

 

[4dotsasieni]

Thanks, lowercase, for clarifying the line about the cats "having their goose cooked." Now that I think about it, I vaguely recall reading, in a late issue of "The Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris" of the demise of Bacon's, but it had slipped my mind, and to be reminded of it again brought sadness but fond memories, of the shop, the town, and the university - I spent the summer of 1980 living at Trinity College, attending a "Futurist" conference, and hearing from the likes of Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Victor Serebriakoff, and Clive Sinclair (I don't think Sinclair had yet been knighted at that time).

 

[misterlowercase]

Wow! I bet that was a grand summer. I'll make it over to the Green Isle one day I hope!
Another dream is to have TPSE in my library, as I'm late to the game and missed out. I grew up in the 80's and I love xerographic fanzine stuff, there's a full set up on BriarBid right now, for a fair price, but I can't afford it right now.
Another thing Cambridge brings to my mind is one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfZPNQPNw-U

 

[4dotsasieni]

Well, this is getting more interesting by the minute! Lowercase, your comments about the Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris ($900!!!) caused me to rummage through some of my back issues. There, I found a note from Tom Dunn thanking me for my report on Bacon's. Here it is:

I'm glad I held on to some of these old treasures.

 

[misterlowercase]

Very cool! Thank you so much for sharing that!
As far as TPSE current market values, yes it is one highly collectible publication!
...just vol.1 of the hardbound edition goes for $750, with one copy available for as low

as $300, some of the individual 'zine copies sell for much money too!

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=%22pipe+smoker%27s+ephemeris%22&sortby=1&x=33&y=4
Enjoy 4dot!

 

[misterlowercase]

...came across this recently:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sludgeulper/3213830458/