- Full title: Smokerama. Classic Tobacco Accouterments
- Author: Philip Collins
- Photographer: Sam Sergent
- Binding: Soft cover
- Number of pages: 124
- Publisher: Chronicle Books
- Publication date: 1992
- Language: English
- Dimensions: 10 x 8.4 inches
- ISBN 10: 0811801195
- ISBN 13: 9780811801195
- Availability: used and new at Amazon
- Price range: $1–$20
Description of the book provided by the publisher:
Camels, Luckies, Pall Malls, Chesterfields - these cigarette brands were once as familiar as the movie stars and sports heroes (and future presidents) who endorsed them. In the decade following World War I, smoking bespoke sophistication, elegance, and glamour. It was a style statement as emphatic as clothes and cars. Accordingly, the smoker needed accessories that elevated this simple act to new status and importance.Manufacturers were only too happy to supply the necessary products and, with their advertisers, to create new needs.
Now, in
Smokerama, nostalgia buffs, collectors, and designers will find superb
samples of these fashionable and sometimes humorous objects. The
inventiveness is beguiling - engraved Zippo lighters, ashtrays
emblazoned with tobacco company logos, trick cigarette lighters that
send a spark arcing between the horns of a devil, and books of matches
with their bland or bizarre messages - each played their part in the art
of smoking.
Accompanied by brief, informative captions, the intriguing
pieces arrayed in this splendid photographic collection convey exactly
the importance that smoking once had for millions of Americans and
provide a visual documentation of America's former favorite pastime.
Philip Collins is the author of Dickens aria Crime and Dickens and Education, and the editor of volumes of interviews with Dickens and Thackeray. He was formerly Emeritus Professor of English at Leicester University.
Sample pages:
Review:
The Smokerama is a wonderful coffee table book on smoking collectibles. The layout of the whole publication is prepared with taste and the selection of lighters and other smoking collectibles is superb.
Photographs play the main role in this book. They display artifacts such as ashtrays, stands, cigarette cases, holders and lighters in loving detail. Almost every photo can be called a small masterpiece. Sam Sargent did his job perfectly well - the arrangement of lights and shades show the depth of every item and make you want it in your collection. Also the composition of the photos is stunning - everything has its purpose and complements the beauty of the photographed artifacts.
The book lacks of such obvious elements like content, index, bibliography or even an identifiable structure. There is not much text either - only a short introductory story to smoking accouterments at the beginning and photo captions which are in some cases inaccurate and, in my opinion, too modest. More information would make this book even more interesting for collectors.
The wonderful photographs of lighters and other smoking memorabilia make this book a very intriguing and nostalgic journey through the past. Despite of the fact that the book was published in 1992 it is still easy available today. At amazon you can have it in used condition even for a buck! It is without doubt a must have book for every lighter collector and which I highly recommend it. You can't get enough of it!
Photographs play the main role in this book. They display artifacts such as ashtrays, stands, cigarette cases, holders and lighters in loving detail. Almost every photo can be called a small masterpiece. Sam Sargent did his job perfectly well - the arrangement of lights and shades show the depth of every item and make you want it in your collection. Also the composition of the photos is stunning - everything has its purpose and complements the beauty of the photographed artifacts.
The book lacks of such obvious elements like content, index, bibliography or even an identifiable structure. There is not much text either - only a short introductory story to smoking accouterments at the beginning and photo captions which are in some cases inaccurate and, in my opinion, too modest. More information would make this book even more interesting for collectors.
The wonderful photographs of lighters and other smoking memorabilia make this book a very intriguing and nostalgic journey through the past. Despite of the fact that the book was published in 1992 it is still easy available today. At amazon you can have it in used condition even for a buck! It is without doubt a must have book for every lighter collector and which I highly recommend it. You can't get enough of it!
Rating: Must have (6/6)
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