All About Snuff And Snuff Taking
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008All About Snuff And Snuff Taking was a book published by The Society of Snuff Grinders, Blenders and Purveyors.
A link to All About Snuff And Snuff Taking, (which is a hard to get snuff book) is included in the Snuff Books & Literature category top right.
The book is occasionally to be found listed for sale online and as such can command much more than it’s original cover price of just 95p!
Published by the now sadly defunct Society of Snuff Grinders, Blenders and Purveyors; with contributions from and descriptions of, the main players in the snuff tobacco industry operating in the UK in the early to mid 1980’s.
As some of you may know, I have a ‘thing’ about collecting snuff books. I’m always on the lookout for titles when visiting old book shops, as well as searching out copies of snuff books online.
I have today received in the post my very own copy of All About Snuff And Snuff Taking, it was a copy previously owned by a library in Cornwall and then sold on to a book dealer.
The snuff book is nicely covered in a protective plastic sleeve and apart from having a library slip glued to the inside front page, (to record the ‘due date’ of return should it ever have been booked out.) it is in mint condition.
Fortunately for me, my copy doesn’t seem to have been that popular with the users of the library and has never been booked out. Across the slip in capitals and red ink is stamped the word ‘withdrawn’.
All About Snuff And Snuff Taking is 36 pages long and utilises the front and back inside and the back outside cover to cram as much information as possible into it!
It is divided into sections as below.
- This Gracious Custom
- Snuff Taking Through The Ages
- How Your Snuff Is Made
- Types Of Snuff - And Their Uses
- From Social Pleasure To Medical Prescription
- The Secret Art Of Blending
- The Beauty Of The Snuff Box
- Who Takes Snuff And Why?
- Snuff Taking And Health
- List Of Members’ Snuffs
On the inside front cover are names of members of The Society of Snuff Grinders, Blenders and Purveyors. Many are happily still familiar today, several of the snuff companies listed have been bought out. Most thankfully are still in available even though the companies have changed hands; although in the section ‘List Of Members Snuffs’, we see tantalising references to snuff blends no longer in production.
On the inside back cover are contact details (one suspects that are long out of date!) of The Society of Snuff Grinders, Blenders and Purveyors.
On the outside back cover are instructions on How To Partake Of A Pinch Of Snuff, taken from a book published in 1857, titled Tobacco and written by A. Steinmetz - on further research it would appear that A. Steinmetz also wrote a book on gambling titled The Gaming Table: Its Votaries And Victims and others including, The History Of The Jesuits, Japan And Her People, The Romance Of Dueling!
A. Steinmetz’s instructions are published on numerous snuff websites and I’m sure at some point I’ll do him the honour of publishing them here too!
As I read the opening pages, I felt proud to be a part of the continuation of ‘This Gracious Custom’!
If you’re trying to get hold of a copy of All About Snuff And Snuff Taking, please visit the Snuff Books & Literature section top right for details of possible book sites to search.
I’ll print further extracts from All About Snuff And Snuff Taking as and when I have a chance.
