A Portfolio of William Bragge and His Pipes of All Peoples. Compiled by...
Letchmere Heath, Watford: J. Trevor Barton, 1991. Limited edition, no. 5 of 25 copies "privately printed for Members of the International Academy of the Pipe". Folio. (404) pp. Publisher's green cloth, gilt to the spine and upper cover, original clear vinyl wrapper, enclosed slip with Barton's "Pipe Museum" business card mounted and a hand signed note to the original recipient - "a connoisseur of Oriental Pipes...". Black and white illustrations throughout. An attractive copy. A substantial volume celebrating the astonishing collection of some 7,000 tobacco pipes belonging to William Bragge (1823-84). He was a civil engineer by profession but is best known now for his study of and writings relating to tobacco and its uses culminating in his 1880 catalogue 'Bibliotheca Nicotiana'. The collection was dispersed after his death with many pieces ending up in the British Museum. This tribute was privately printed in a very small run by his 20th century successor J. Trevor Barton (1920-2008), who began collecting tobacco pipes in the mid 1940s. At some point a chance encounter brought Barton into contact with Bragge's granddaughter from whom he acquired some of Bragge's notebooks and drawings here finely reproduced. Barton's own collection was dispersed on his demise at auctions sales at Christie's in 2010 and again at Sworders a decade later. Scarce, with no copies traced on OCLC or Library Hub. Item #53607
Price: £650.00