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George Arents Collection on Tobacco

The George Arents Collection on Tobacco, the product of over one hundred years of collecting by George Arents and a succession of curators, is a comprehensive collection on the history, literature, and lore of tobacco. Over the years, the collection has grown to include books and manuscripts in more than twenty languages. Although the collection is devoted to tobacco and includes almost every important work dealing with the subject, it also contains many historical, literary, and artistic works in which tobacco appears only incidentally.

The George Arents Collection on Tobacco: The Catalogs

Tobacco, its history illustrated by the books, manuscripts, and engravings in the library of George Arents, Jr. : together with an introductory essay, a glossary and bibliographic notes / by Jerome E. Brooks.
New York : Rosenbach Co., 1937-1943 ([Camden, N.J.] : Haddon Craftsmen)
4 v. illus. (part col., part fold.), facsims. (part col.) maps, ports. 35 cm.<

The scope of this catalog is the private library of George Arents and it represents the books that were in the collection before it was donated to The New York Public Library. In 1944, George Arents's collection was received by The New York Public Library where it became known as the George Arents Collection on Tobacco.

The published catalog, Tobacco, was privately printed for George Arents in only 300 copies. The books in the collection and their descriptions in the catalog are arranged by date of printing. The contents of the first four volumes are divided in the following manner:

Volume 1.
•	p. 3-173, Introduction by Jerome Brooks
•	p. 177-185, "On the form of the Catalogue and a list of references"
•	Catalog entries for publication dates from 1507-1615: Arents n. 1-119
Volume 2.
•	Catalog entries for publication dates from 1615-1698: Arents n. 120-432
Volume 3.
•	Catalog entries for publication dates from 1698-1783: Arents n. 433-936
Volume 4.
•	Catalog entries for publication dates from 1784-1942: Arents n. 937-1145
•	Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, XIX-XX Centuries: Arents n. 1146-3270
•	p. 391-403, Glossary
•	Addenda, Catalog entries for publication dates from 1554-1942: Arents n. 3271-3386
•	p. 475-479, Additions and Explanatory Memoranda;
•	p. 479-482, In Conclusion by Jerome Brooks
•	p. 483-485, Errata

Of special interest to researchers of French tobacco history are the sections of the Tobacco catalog edited by Sarah Augusta Dickson, the Arents Librarian. Miss Dickson made the French Tobacco Monopoly her speciality and she wrote extensively on this part of George Arents's library. For her work in the catalog, Tobacco, there are three series of documents and pamphlets relating to the Tobacco Monopoly in France:

First Series: 1629-1699 (v. 2, p.440- 451, Arents n. 335- n. 352)
Second Series: 1702-1725 (v. 3, p. 154-195, Arents n. 543-n. 646)
Third Series: 1726-1785 (v. 4, p. 59-101, Arents n. 975-n. 1059)

And for the Revolutionary Period, in volume 4, between pages 101 and 144, occurs a section entitled: "Tobacco and the French Revolution." In this section of the printed catalog, preceded by an essay and a bibliography by Miss Dickson, are the extensive descriptions for approximately fifty important publications issued by the French government from 1789 to 1798.

Volume 5, the Index by Anne M. Nill, was published in 1952. It was arranged in two sections: Author Index and Subject Index. The Author Index lists author's names and titles for those works that lacked an author. All of the titles in the catalog, however, are not present in the index. Users of the Index are reminded to heed the advice of the indexer as printed (on the verso of page containing the "Foreword" by George Arents):

The references are to pages or catalogue numbers, the latter indicated by "n."; "n." indicates a footnote. Paragraph references which follow a catalogue number in the Index do not refer to the titles or the translations of titles but to the respective paragraphs of the reading text.

A published supplement was prepared by Arents Librarian Sarah Augusta Dickson and Curator Perry O'Neil to cover additions to the collection after 1942. It was printed from 1958-1969.

Arents Tobacco Collection.
Tobacco; a catalogue of the books, manuscripts, and engravings
acquired since 1942 in the Arents Tobacco Collection at the New
York Public Library, from 1507 to the present. Compiled by Sarah
Augusta Dickson.
New York, 1958-69.
10 pts. illus., facsims, 34 cm.
Series: Arents Tobacco Collection. Publications; no. 7-12.
Parts 8-10 compiled by P. H. O'Neil.

Part 10 of the supplement was the last one printed. The supplement is incomplete but it covers material printed from 1507 to 1724. The supplement is also arranged by date of printing. There is no index.

For books added to the collection after 1943 that were not listed in the published supplement, researchers must use The New York Public Library's online catalog: CATNYP. Acquisitions that were not included in the published catalogs are now found in The New York Public Library's online catalog.