1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,080 Speaker 1: I'm to blame a charcoal boarding and I'm fair, and 4 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,960 Speaker 1: it's probably no secret if you listen to the podcast 5 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,319 Speaker 1: a lot, that we're both really big book lovers. But 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: thus far, at least, I haven't been much of a 7 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: book collector. I don't know about you, Sarah. I know 8 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: I would definitely like to at some point, and we've 9 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:32,840 Speaker 1: talked about this ever since I got my kindle last year. 10 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: I've been dreaming about only buying books that I want 11 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: to collect, first edition exactly, but that hasn't started yet. 12 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,199 Speaker 1: So while I've amasked quite a few paperbacks and some 13 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,159 Speaker 1: random hardback books over the years, you could hardly call 14 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: it a collection. So that's one of the biggest things 15 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: that I learned from researching today's podcasts. Though about George Aaron's, 16 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: a bunch of books, no matter how valuable they are, 17 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: does not a collection, mate, and no matter how much 18 00:00:57,760 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: you love them, if you only went out and chose 19 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: favorite authors in your favorite books, it wouldn't really make 20 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,039 Speaker 1: a collection, and errants would really know what a collection was. 21 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: He's been called quote one of the greatest contemporary bibliophiles, 22 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: and over his lifetime he created two separate book collections, 23 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: which are now major collections at the New York Public Library. 24 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: One is the Errant's Tobacco Collection, which opened to the 25 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: public in January of nineteen forty four. The other is 26 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: the Arrant's Collection of Books and Parts and Associated Literature, 27 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: which opened in February of nineteen fifty seven. At this point, 28 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: some of you out there, especially if you're not a 29 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 1: bibliophile yourself, maybe thinking, Okay, so what why do I 30 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,959 Speaker 1: care about this guy who collected books and old books too. 31 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: But what really makes Aaron's interesting, we think, at least 32 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 1: besides the fact that he was also a businessman and 33 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: an inventor, is the extremely focused approach that he took 34 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: to his collections. He wasn't just collecting first editions, like 35 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: Sarah mentioned before, His initial focus was simply tobacco, and 36 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about that a little bit more in 37 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: a bit, of course. The other thing that really fascinated 38 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: us was the process of hardcore book collecting that we 39 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 1: learned about from researching this. Errands made book collecting into 40 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: kind of an adventure sometimes taking off across the pond 41 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: at a moment's notice to pursue a volume that he 42 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: really wanted. He often compared it to a hunt even 43 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: or a sport. And of course then there's the history 44 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:29,920 Speaker 1: of the books and the other items, and the collections themselves. 45 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,919 Speaker 1: They have pretty cool stories behind them. Some have even 46 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 1: come from the hands of the likes of Queen Elizabeth 47 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: the First So we're going to cover all of these aspects. Yeah, 48 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 1: And to cover all of these aspects, we've decided to 49 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: take kind of an atypical approach to this episode. We're 50 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: going to give you some background on Errand's first and 51 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: how he got into collecting in the first place, and 52 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: some of the stories behind items in the collection. But 53 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 1: we also had a terrific interview with Michael Inman, who 54 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,360 Speaker 1: is the curator of the Rare Books Division at the 55 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: New York Public Library where the Errant's collection is held, 56 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: and he was a really great resource on the topic 57 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,359 Speaker 1: of Errants, on his life, and on book collecting and 58 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 1: rare books in general. So we're including parts of that 59 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: interview in this podcast today as well. But of course 60 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: before we get into all that, we need to tell 61 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: you a little bit about Errands and not only how 62 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,080 Speaker 1: he got the collecting bug, but also how tobacco became 63 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: part of the equation, because it seems like a strange 64 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: thing to have a collection centered around it does, but 65 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:26,679 Speaker 1: it won't in a couple of minutes. George Errands, who 66 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: was technically George Erons Jr. Was born in New York 67 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: City on May seven, five. In a discussion of his family, 68 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: you might find that the names can actually get kind 69 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: of confusing, and it might be confusing if you try 70 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: to look him up on your own, because obviously his 71 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: father was also named George Errands, and later on his 72 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: son was as well. But we'll try to specify if 73 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: we mentioned one of the other Georges in this podcast 74 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: that we're doing so. So Aaron's family business was the 75 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 1: Alan and Ginter Tobacco Company, which was established by his 76 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 1: great uncle, Major Lewis Ginter, and this company was known 77 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: for creating the first cigarette trading cards, which were slipped 78 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: into cigarette packs to give them kind of that stiff quality, 79 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: and they also served as a form of advertising. And 80 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: this was even before kids trading cards came around, so 81 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: it was kind of venturing into new territory of a 82 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: sort so because of the family business, Aaron spent a 83 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: lot of time of visiting Richmond, Virginia as a kid 84 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: because that was where the company was based. And in 85 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:23,719 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety Allen and Ginter became part of the American 86 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: Tobacco Company. I'm sure many of you have heard of that, 87 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: but Aaron's family was still very much involved in that 88 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: new company, and he started working there himself in eighteen 89 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: ninety six between his junior and senior years studying at 90 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 1: Columbia University. Then in eighteen ninety seven he graduated from 91 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:41,920 Speaker 1: Columbia and he went on to earn his master's to 92 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: create Syracuse University. But he didn't just rest on getting 93 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 1: a great education and settling into a comfortable job at 94 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,159 Speaker 1: the family business. He was enterprising and he made his 95 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: own name in that business as well. Around the turn 96 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: of the century, he helped to establish the American Machine 97 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: and Foundry Company and served as a director there. But 98 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: he also got into some inventor he did, and I 99 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:05,720 Speaker 1: think we mentioned that in the intro of this podcast, 100 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,279 Speaker 1: and one of his inventions in particular was a device 101 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: that made it possible to make cigars with machines. And 102 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,159 Speaker 1: this was widely adopted in the industry. Later it was 103 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:17,919 Speaker 1: developed into a machine that rolled cigarettes. I mean before 104 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:20,599 Speaker 1: those cigarettes had to be rolled by hand, so you 105 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: can imagine how it would make mass production possible and 106 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 1: really kind of revolutionize things. And these patents ended up 107 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: being a great source of wealth for him. So in 108 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,359 Speaker 1: a lot of our podcast we would probably stop with 109 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 1: this sort of stuff, this business life of his, and 110 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:39,799 Speaker 1: in truth, a lot of podcast subjects stop there too, 111 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: after all, I mean, if you're that accomplished, if you've 112 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: made a name for yourself in business, if you're an inventor, 113 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: why do you really need to do too much all? 114 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:50,359 Speaker 1: Some people might wonder. Of course, Erin's did have a 115 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: personal life. He was married and he had two kids, 116 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: a son and a daughter. We already mentioned the son. 117 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: But along the way he really went beyond his family 118 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 1: life and his this this life and took on a 119 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: few hobbies too, mainly because of some advice he had 120 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: gotten from his great uncle, Major Ginter pretty early on. 121 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 1: And there's an article by Sue Dickinson and Commonwealth Magazine 122 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:15,039 Speaker 1: where Aaron's actually recounted this advice and a talk he 123 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: gave at the College William and Mary in nineteen thirty nine. Yeah, 124 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 1: he said, on one of my many visits, and he's 125 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: referring there to the visits to Virginia to visit his family, 126 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: Major Ginter gave me some advice which I have never forgotten. 127 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:31,880 Speaker 1: It has added greatly to my happiness and I think 128 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: maybe a value to many of you here. He said, 129 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,160 Speaker 1: when you were young, have many hobbies, but let your 130 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: business or profession come first. As you grow older, you 131 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 1: will have to abandon some of them. The more you have, 132 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: the less you will miss those that you have to 133 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,559 Speaker 1: give up. So Aaron's really took this advice to heart, 134 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,480 Speaker 1: and he started taking on different hobbies, trying to collect 135 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: as many early on as he could. One was race 136 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:58,560 Speaker 1: car driving, but that didn't laugh very long for him. 137 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: He drove a Mercedes which was car number five in 138 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,559 Speaker 1: the first Vanderbilt Cup Race, which took place on Long 139 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: Island in October of nineteen o four. He was twenty 140 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,080 Speaker 1: nine years old at the time. It was his first race, 141 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: but he got into an accident that left him pretty 142 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: badly injured and actually killed his mechanics. So that was 143 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: the end of that, perhaps kind of proving his uncle's 144 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: point that you're going to have to abandon hobbies along 145 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: the way. One of his other hobbies, though, book collecting, 146 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: of course, proved to be far safer than race car driving, 147 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: and he did stick with that throughout his life. A bookseller, 148 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: William Everts, warned Errants early on that he should specialize 149 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: when he came to book collecting. According to an article 150 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 1: that Arrants prepared for Syracuse University students called book collecting 151 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: as I have found It, Everts said, do not buy 152 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: some sixteenth and seventeenth century plays and poems, some nineteenth 153 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: and twentieth century novels. That is not a collection. It 154 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: is just a lot of books. Decide on a subject 155 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: which interests you, and stick to it. Someday you may 156 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: find that you have formed a great collection, or at 157 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: least one which will always interest you. So Aaron's didn't 158 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 1: have to think long and hard about what that focus 159 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: of his collection would be. Obviously, in that same William 160 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: and Mary talk we mentioned earlier, Aaron said, quote, what 161 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: could be more natural for me, with the background of 162 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: tobacco and my family than to specialize on books relating 163 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 1: to the divine herb? So once he chose tobacco, he 164 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: really went for it. But there's a bit of discrepancy 165 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: regarding what work he started with and when exactly he started. 166 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: Over the course of his life he gave all sorts 167 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: of ages, all pretty much on the younger side. But 168 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: we wanted to talk to Michael Inman, what's the deal 169 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: with us? What was his first book he bought? Here's 170 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:45,199 Speaker 1: what he had to say. Aaron's was in his early 171 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: twenties when he bought his first book on tobacco. He 172 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:52,680 Speaker 1: bought his first book in h and there is a 173 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:56,200 Speaker 1: discrepancy as to which work was the first book that 174 00:08:56,240 --> 00:09:00,559 Speaker 1: he published. By most accounts, it was Selections for Original 175 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 1: Contributions by James Thompson to Coax's Tobacco Plant, which had 176 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: been published in nine But there are other works, actually, 177 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: a couple of other works, which at one time or 178 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: another he said that he had bought first. The discrepancy 179 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: probably lies partly in his memory, and then also it 180 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: lies in the fact that in his accession ledger, which 181 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:26,680 Speaker 1: he kept fairly careful notes in as to what he bought, uh, 182 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: he did list the Selections from Original Contributions by James 183 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: Thompson to have been the first book that he bought. 184 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: When he began collecting. So UM, that's the book that 185 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:39,599 Speaker 1: I've always thought was probably Um was the first, or 186 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: at least the first one of which we can be, 187 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 1: you know, relatively certain. So once Aaron's collection, his tobacco collection, 188 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: got underway, he started out with the types of books 189 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:52,240 Speaker 1: you'd expect, things with tobacco in the title or as 190 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: the main subject. But even these focused works covered a 191 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 1: broad range of takes on tobacco. There are history books, 192 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: their le egal documents, books about the chemistry of tobacco, 193 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: even medical texts. The oldest book in this collection is 194 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 1: the first Latin edition of an account of Americo Vespucci's travels, 195 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: which also contains the first reference to the New World 196 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:17,840 Speaker 1: as America. While tobacco isn't mentioned by name in this work, 197 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:21,280 Speaker 1: the book describes native people off of what is now 198 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: Venezuela chewing green leaves, so the assumption is that they 199 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 1: were chewing tobacco. Another early piece from the collection includes 200 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: the first mention of the Aztec read cigarette and the 201 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 1: first reference to tobacco smoking. And it even includes the 202 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:39,080 Speaker 1: first youth of the word tobacco, which I think would 203 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: have made a good good find for our Oxford English 204 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:46,160 Speaker 1: Dictionary episode. But there are all sorts of items, Like 205 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,600 Speaker 1: you said, other items focused on herbals. For instance, one 206 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: is a four book that doesn't actually mention tobacco by name, 207 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: but it contains the earliest illustration of it. So Arrants 208 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: really was willing to look broadly at this. In his 209 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: essay Tobacco leaves Eron's also talks about how he tried 210 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:07,040 Speaker 1: to collect books or documents that contain source material about 211 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 1: the history of tobacco, like notes from the English Privy 212 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: Council meetings, which I think is really interesting. It's through 213 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: these documents that historians can trace the interlocking histories of tobacco, 214 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:21,559 Speaker 1: whether you're talking about the economic, history, social, or political. 215 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: And things aren't always positive either or pro tobacco, as 216 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,080 Speaker 1: he might expect from somebody who had made his career 217 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: in the tobacco industry right and one of Aaron's most 218 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:36,479 Speaker 1: prized works was actually King James, the first counterblast to tobacco. Apparently, 219 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:41,200 Speaker 1: while Elizabeth, the first James predecessor and kinswoman, enjoyed tobacco 220 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,320 Speaker 1: after Sir Walter Rawley helped popularize it in her court, 221 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:48,319 Speaker 1: James was not a very big fan himself no, and interestingly, 222 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: Aaron's own copy was one James must have been pretty 223 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: proud of because it's part of a specially bound set 224 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: that he had made for his wife, Queen Anne. Although 225 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: Aaron's believed that the works were in such press dean condition, 226 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:03,640 Speaker 1: he had a hunch Queen Anne must have never actually 227 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:08,400 Speaker 1: read her husband's works. Another major tobacco opponent was John Smith, 228 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:11,079 Speaker 1: who was the author of a General History of Virginia. 229 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 1: In it, he called tobacco quote the heathenish weed, since 230 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 1: it would drive settlers to waste their time planting that 231 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 1: finicky crop instead of food that they actually needed to survive. 232 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: And we've talked about that connection between tobacco and Virginia 233 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 1: before in an earlier episode. The episode on the shipwreck 234 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,080 Speaker 1: that Saved Jamestown really one of my favorites, where John Role, 235 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: famous for being Pocahontas's husband, managed to smuggle some Central 236 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: American variety of tobacco seeds into Virginia and started producing 237 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:44,199 Speaker 1: the more popular crop there where it really thrived and 238 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:48,199 Speaker 1: completely changed the economy of Virginia, and it really changed 239 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 1: economies across the globe. To tobacco became kind of like 240 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:57,079 Speaker 1: an international currency of sort. Eventually, Aaron's began to expand 241 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:00,480 Speaker 1: his collection to include titles that dealt with tobacco in 242 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:04,080 Speaker 1: a more tangential way too. For example, he collected baseball 243 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: cards from cigarette advertising, including a Honus Wagner from These 244 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:13,000 Speaker 1: are considered the most expensive baseball or honest Wagner apparently 245 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:15,679 Speaker 1: was not into having baseball cards made of him. But 246 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 1: there are also things that I think would appeal to 247 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: a lot of you guys. Alice in Wonderland that's included 248 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: because there's a caterpillar who smokes a hookah and Aaron's 249 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: collected a first edition of it. Moby Dick, The Wonderful 250 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:31,559 Speaker 1: Wizard of Oz, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn all included 251 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:34,440 Speaker 1: in that collection just because they have some scene or 252 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: some mention of tobacco that he thought was important enough. 253 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 1: So of course this made us really think of I mean, 254 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,320 Speaker 1: you mentioned that Oxford English Dictionary the William C. Minor 255 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: podcast earlier, and that made us wonder, how did he 256 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:50,239 Speaker 1: find these reference system of which aren't really that obvious, 257 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,400 Speaker 1: And so we asked Michael Inman that very question, and 258 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: here's what he had to say. Well, some of them 259 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:57,560 Speaker 1: he came across um quite likely just in the course 260 00:13:57,600 --> 00:13:59,319 Speaker 1: of his reading and in the course of collecting, he 261 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: would find references to other works related to the subject um. 262 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: But I think it's safe to say that a great 263 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,199 Speaker 1: many of these works came to his attention through the 264 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 1: the advice or um, through information that was related to 265 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:16,040 Speaker 1: him by various book collectors and auction houses and so forth. 266 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 1: And he had people out there in the antiquarium book 267 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 1: world who were on the lookout for items which had 268 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 1: a tobacco connection, however slight, and as those items came 269 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:28,920 Speaker 1: into their stock, they would then contact him and ask 270 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: if it was something that he was interested in acquiring, 271 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: and and then the transaction would take place. So it 272 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: sort of went in both directions in terms of his 273 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 1: own research on the subject and then also people on 274 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 1: the lookout for things for him. One of the most 275 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: notably missing figures though, of this more tangential type of 276 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:49,760 Speaker 1: collection is William Shakespeare, and it's kind of strange because 277 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,880 Speaker 1: of that opposition from King James. There was apparently a 278 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: lot of references done during Jackman drama. You know, people 279 00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:00,560 Speaker 1: like to talk about what was considered taboo, and Errant's 280 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: even compared this to the multitude of alcohol references during prohibition. 281 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: But William Shakespeare is missing from Elizabethan from jack Bin 282 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 1: Drama entirely, and there's a good reason for that. It's 283 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: because he never wrote about tobacco. And Arrants at one 284 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 1: point related a pretty funny story about Shakespeare and the 285 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: lack of tobacco connections by talking about how he agreed 286 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: to buy a Shakespeare first folio at one point if 287 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: and only if a mention of tobacco could be found, 288 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 1: and he got a little nervous about that promise afterwards 289 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:36,320 Speaker 1: because he was expecting there wouldn't be any mentions, and 290 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 1: he knew that even for him, buying a Shakespeare first 291 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,640 Speaker 1: folio would be kind of a hurt, put a hurt 292 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 1: on his bank act expire, certainly. But the best anybody 293 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: could find was a passage from A Midsummer Night's Dream 294 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 1: about pipes. Unfortunately for Errants, it turned out to be 295 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: about Oberon playing pipes of corn, different pipes, different kind 296 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: of pipe. But I think it's so fascinating that Errant's 297 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: familiarity with all of these tangential references allowed him to 298 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:07,280 Speaker 1: actually draw some literary inferences from it. That total lack 299 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: of tobacco references in Shakespeare's work contrasted with the frequent 300 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: mentions of tobacco in Roger Bacon's work and ended up 301 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 1: being proof enough for errants that Bacon did not write Shakespeare. 302 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:22,880 Speaker 1: So finally, one of the most interesting lines of study 303 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 1: in the collection is not just the history of tobacco, 304 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: but the history of how tobacco was used. For example, 305 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 1: a book by Christopher Columbus's Natural Son contains stories from 306 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: Columbus's travels, including one describing Cuban Indians smoking cigars. Apparently, 307 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: the sailors didn't know what was going on and thought 308 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: perhaps the Indians were perfuming themselves with these cigars. But 309 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: it wasn't long, obviously, before the sailors took up smoking 310 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: and started to take it back to the old world. 311 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:53,040 Speaker 1: Even though folks back at home were pretty puzzled at first, 312 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 1: you know what was really going on, and one of 313 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: the interesting items Arrant's collection includes as a record of 314 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:03,600 Speaker 1: a Spanish sailor being arrested during the Inquisition for smoke 315 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: coming out of his mouth because he was having a 316 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 1: smoke and folks thought that he must be possessed by 317 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,640 Speaker 1: the devil for something so horrifying to to be happening. 318 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:14,359 Speaker 1: But by the time he got out of prison, he 319 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: found that everybody around him was smoking. It had become 320 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:21,080 Speaker 1: commonplace during just that that time he was put away. 321 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:24,080 Speaker 1: The first sailors seen smoking in London created a riot. 322 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:27,200 Speaker 1: People thought that they were actually drinking smoke. But a 323 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 1: smoking caught on in England. Some elegant men felt that 324 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: they actually needed smoking teachers, people who would teach you 325 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:37,399 Speaker 1: how to look good. Not that it was okay at 326 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:39,679 Speaker 1: the time to walk around and smoke. Men would actually 327 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:43,679 Speaker 1: have to duck into apothecary shop, have a smoke, and 328 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,439 Speaker 1: then hit the streets again. So it made sense that 329 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: tobacco was still considered medicinal by many, and that's why 330 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,080 Speaker 1: connection there exactly. So it was like you had an 331 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 1: excuse to be smoking. Obviously, tobacco and smoking can be 332 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:01,640 Speaker 1: a really controversial topic today for health related reasons. Because 333 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:05,480 Speaker 1: of health related concerns, some of Aaron's inclusions reflect how 334 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:09,880 Speaker 1: it was controversial even throughout history. His collection contained critiques 335 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,240 Speaker 1: of tobacco through the ages, the earliest of which criticized 336 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:15,640 Speaker 1: the non medicinal use of what was believed to be 337 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: and that's when you think about today. It reminded me 338 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,119 Speaker 1: a lot of the Radium Girls podcast that we did 339 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:25,359 Speaker 1: last fall, and how people would thought that radium was 340 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:27,920 Speaker 1: medicinal and they would use it even to treat cancer 341 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:29,719 Speaker 1: and things like that, and then later they figured out, oh, 342 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 1: it's actually causing cancer, and uh, it's similar sort of 343 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 1: thing here with tobacco. One of the items that is 344 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:41,159 Speaker 1: in the collection, Tobacco Tortured from sixteen sixteen, focuses on 345 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:45,120 Speaker 1: a degenerate family man who's ruined his life through tobacco. 346 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,560 Speaker 1: His wife pleads, quote, Oh, my husband, my husband, why 347 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:53,760 Speaker 1: dost thou so vainly preferred a vanishing, filthy fume before 348 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,159 Speaker 1: my permanent virtues? Have I not here brought forth an 349 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,440 Speaker 1: army of children into they And the descript and of 350 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,120 Speaker 1: just this ragged man who's been destroyed by tobacco kind 351 00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:08,360 Speaker 1: of reminds me of the classic After School special almost 352 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:12,160 Speaker 1: except that it's from sixteen sixteen. But thinking about all 353 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 1: the controversies that have surrounded tobacco throughout the years and 354 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: even up to today, made us really wonder about how 355 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: a collection of the sort is perceived. So we asked 356 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: Michael about that. We asked Michael Inman, and he noted 357 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,440 Speaker 1: that they haven't really received a lot of flak for 358 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: the tobacco collection, but that's probably because it's mostly historical. 359 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,879 Speaker 1: He said, most of the volumes are actually pre nineteen 360 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,920 Speaker 1: hundred well, and he also shared because of the huge 361 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: number of items that aren't really about tobacco, they just 362 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:45,760 Speaker 1: have that mention of it. About fifty percent of the 363 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: people who use the collection, who consulted for their research, 364 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,119 Speaker 1: aren't really interested in the tobacco content at all. You know, 365 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:55,119 Speaker 1: they're interested in that Alice in Wonderland copy or the 366 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,480 Speaker 1: Wizard of Oz or whatever it may be, something completely 367 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 1: apart from tobacco. But tobacco wasn't all that Errants was 368 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:05,080 Speaker 1: interested in. As we mentioned in the intro to this podcast, 369 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:09,560 Speaker 1: in he started his second book collection, Books and Parts, 370 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:11,880 Speaker 1: So it was about a quarter of a century after 371 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: he started that initial tobacco collection, and it just made 372 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:18,000 Speaker 1: us really curious. I mean, we had a sense of 373 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: what Books and Parts are, but we wanted to talk 374 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:23,439 Speaker 1: to Michael a little bit about what that entails. The 375 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:27,840 Speaker 1: Books and Parts collection is, to my knowledge, is a 376 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: unique collection. I mean, there are other rare book collections 377 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 1: out there that have books and parts material material and parts, 378 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,119 Speaker 1: I should say, but what makes the Errants collection of 379 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:40,600 Speaker 1: Books and Parts so special is that, so far as 380 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:42,400 Speaker 1: I know, it's the only collection of its kind that's 381 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,679 Speaker 1: solely predicated on collecting material in parts. And by parts, 382 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:49,439 Speaker 1: I mean these are original works of literature and a 383 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:54,760 Speaker 1: great many genres which are still in their original serialized form, 384 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,320 Speaker 1: and the individual paper wrappers that they came in. The 385 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 1: practice would usually have been to those individual parts bound 386 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:05,159 Speaker 1: up into one binding, but in fact these actually remain 387 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:09,400 Speaker 1: in their original serialized form. I think that that probably 388 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,959 Speaker 1: was part of the appeal for Arrans. That here, just 389 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:16,119 Speaker 1: as had been the case with the tobacco part of 390 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:19,480 Speaker 1: the collection, which also I believe is fairly unique in 391 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:22,359 Speaker 1: the sense that it's solely predicated along those lines of 392 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,680 Speaker 1: just dealing with tobacco, here was another aspect of book 393 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:30,240 Speaker 1: collecting that Arrants could could focus upon that really was 394 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:34,119 Speaker 1: something that was the other people weren't collecting at that 395 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 1: time at any rate. Michael also went on to theorize 396 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,840 Speaker 1: that starting the second collection really allowed Errants a great 397 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,679 Speaker 1: avenue for a perfectionist to take. I mean, he was 398 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:47,000 Speaker 1: a perfectionist, and if you collect books and parts, you 399 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:50,679 Speaker 1: can gradually assemble not just a complete set, but a 400 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,879 Speaker 1: perfect set, something that was really appealing to Arrants. But 401 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:57,719 Speaker 1: another another reason why he might have started the second 402 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 1: collection is that it allowed him to pursue the chase, 403 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,439 Speaker 1: you know, like we talked about earlier, the hunt behind 404 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:08,439 Speaker 1: book collecting. It allowed him to maintain the paith of 405 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 1: book collecting he'd gotten used to. It was really an 406 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 1: adventure for him. As we mentioned, I mean, Sarah and 407 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:15,880 Speaker 1: I were really taken with one part of an essay 408 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:19,080 Speaker 1: we read where it said that Aaron's would learn of 409 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: a book that he wanted to get in London and 410 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:23,880 Speaker 1: he would just decide on the spur of the mount 411 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,120 Speaker 1: on a boat, take off, get on a boat, and 412 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,199 Speaker 1: go get it. And that really excited us. So we 413 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,000 Speaker 1: wanted to talk to Michael a little bit about that 414 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: thrill of the chase and ask him what his favorite 415 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: story or what are some of the most interesting stories 416 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,399 Speaker 1: of how Aaron's obtained a volume, And here's what he 417 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:42,520 Speaker 1: had to say. One that comes to mind is that 418 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,679 Speaker 1: for a great many years he had had a nearly 419 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,720 Speaker 1: complete set of hackle It's voyages and not only was 420 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 1: this is this isn't terribly important work in terms of 421 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: North American history, in terms of voyages and travels, uh, 422 00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: and in terms of printing history, but also the particular 423 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,000 Speaker 1: set that he had acquired had belonged to Queen Elizabeth 424 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: the first It bears her coat of arms on the binding. 425 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:09,119 Speaker 1: He had a complete set of that work. It's a 426 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 1: multi volume set except for one volume that he was missing, 427 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:16,439 Speaker 1: and finally persistence paid off. He had been searching for 428 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 1: it for years and years and it finally turned up 429 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:22,040 Speaker 1: at at auction and he was able to acquire that 430 00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:24,679 Speaker 1: missing volume. But this is something that transpired over a 431 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,719 Speaker 1: great many years that he doggedly pursued this one missing 432 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,679 Speaker 1: volume out of a multi volume set. Uh. He he 433 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:33,159 Speaker 1: was sort of like a dog with a bone. He 434 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:37,080 Speaker 1: wouldn't let go of something, and he always tried to 435 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: to acquire the complete work, as I mentioned earlier. So 436 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:46,240 Speaker 1: that's one example. Uh, he went to great lenks to 437 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: acquire all sorts of items. Another example, it's something that 438 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,080 Speaker 1: he tried to come by over a period of years. 439 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 1: Were very lucky in the Errant's collection to have the 440 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:00,080 Speaker 1: original manuscript, the original four act manuscript of us. For 441 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:03,639 Speaker 1: wild it's the importance of being earnest and that's something 442 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:07,320 Speaker 1: that again he had to search for the complete set 443 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,280 Speaker 1: for a number of years, or the multi volumes because 444 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,920 Speaker 1: it's written in several notebooks and he had to search 445 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,720 Speaker 1: for several years until he was able to assemble uh 446 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 1: that those two works. I think another thing that surprised 447 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 1: us during our research was that this is not a 448 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,240 Speaker 1: static collection. It's something that's grown, and it's something that 449 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:30,560 Speaker 1: has been added to even after Aaron's's death, and the 450 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,399 Speaker 1: library still I don't know. Michael talked a little bit 451 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,320 Speaker 1: about what acquiring books is like today and he said, well, 452 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: he hasn't jetted to London to to obtain materials. There 453 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,360 Speaker 1: is still that kind of thrill of the chase element 454 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,120 Speaker 1: to pursuing a book that is just perfect for the collection, 455 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 1: something that has high research value but is also incredibly unique. 456 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,480 Speaker 1: And he said that they need to always, of course 457 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,080 Speaker 1: focus on things that have a link to tobacco. That 458 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 1: is the prime quality vacation for anything that's going to 459 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:03,720 Speaker 1: be in the collection. But it really does need to 460 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 1: be important. It can't just mention tobacco. It has to 461 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 1: almost live up to all the items that are already 462 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,440 Speaker 1: in the collection. Right he mentioned research value in particular, 463 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:14,359 Speaker 1: the items that they get must have some sort of 464 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:17,639 Speaker 1: research value, must have some sort of research value to them, 465 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,560 Speaker 1: I should say. And so, of course talking about all 466 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:24,000 Speaker 1: of these volumes and their value made us really wonder 467 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:28,680 Speaker 1: what are Michael's favorite things in this collection as the curator, 468 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,440 Speaker 1: And so we posed a kind of interesting scenario to 469 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: him with nightmare scenario, probably a nightmare actually for a 470 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,640 Speaker 1: curator like him. We asked, if the building were burning down, 471 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,120 Speaker 1: what would he take with him? The importance of being 472 00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:45,679 Speaker 1: earnest is one of my favorites, certainly. There is a 473 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:49,879 Speaker 1: handwritten letter from Queen Elizabeth the First to Charles the 474 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:53,960 Speaker 1: ninth of France, in which she writes in French, uh well, 475 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,240 Speaker 1: in response to charles offer he had offered his brother's 476 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,440 Speaker 1: hand in marriage to Elizabeth in order to forge alliance 477 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,280 Speaker 1: between France and England. And so she wrote back to 478 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: him in this very sort of flowery circumlocutionary pros, oh, 479 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: I love France and I adore you, and I think 480 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:13,600 Speaker 1: your brother is great. And she goes on and at 481 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:15,640 Speaker 1: the very end of the letter she says rather tersely 482 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: sort of thanks but no thanks. That's a good example 483 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 1: again of arrances, very broad mindedness in terms of collecting. 484 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,399 Speaker 1: For years I wondered why that letter was in the 485 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,160 Speaker 1: collection because there's no connection to tobacco that I can 486 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 1: discern at all. And finally, after a number of years, 487 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,360 Speaker 1: I was able to find some notes that Errans had 488 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,399 Speaker 1: written where he explained that he had acquired that item 489 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 1: simply because Elizabeth was the first modern female monarch who 490 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:47,080 Speaker 1: was known to smoke. So the connection there even was 491 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:51,439 Speaker 1: somewhat tenuous. But I suspect he saw that letter at 492 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:53,280 Speaker 1: auction or someone offered it to him and it was 493 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:55,280 Speaker 1: just too tempting to pass up. So that's how he 494 00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:58,679 Speaker 1: was probably able to justify acquiring it after the fact. 495 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,600 Speaker 1: So that letter, I think there are several others um 496 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,959 Speaker 1: from Sir Walter Rawleigh and several other individuals from that 497 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:09,119 Speaker 1: period that are quite magnificent. There is another item that 498 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:13,560 Speaker 1: I really love is the first edition of the Wizard 499 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 1: of Oz that Frank Baum inscribed to his mother. Very 500 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,399 Speaker 1: touching little inscription there where he writes a note to 501 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,680 Speaker 1: his mother. So that's that's certainly wonderful. It's really hard 502 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,480 Speaker 1: to sort of draw the line just two or three. 503 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 1: I think we're you know, Goodness forbid, the building I 504 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: were on fire, I would probably be in the building 505 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,640 Speaker 1: much longer than it was probably safe to be, trying 506 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: to grab as many things as I could. But certainly 507 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: those would be a few of the top picks that 508 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: come to mind. Um, he would ask me the same 509 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,160 Speaker 1: question tomorrow, I probably would give you a completely different list, 510 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:49,320 Speaker 1: and you know, to keep going on for the next 511 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:52,600 Speaker 1: several months. So that drastic scenario, you know, the building 512 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: burning down, what are you going to save? Kind of 513 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,640 Speaker 1: led us to a less drastic scenario one of how 514 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: how are these material is preserved? How do people use them? 515 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:04,919 Speaker 1: And it was interesting to hear that because this is 516 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:08,920 Speaker 1: a library a lot of these museum where the items 517 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:11,679 Speaker 1: are available to the public. You know, you can apply 518 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:15,680 Speaker 1: to to consult with these materials and look at them yourself. 519 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,359 Speaker 1: Something I think, touch them, we have touch them, something 520 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: that I think really sets rare book libraries like this apart. Yeah, 521 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: and Michael told us a little bit about the preservation 522 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:29,840 Speaker 1: and how meticulous they have to be to make sure 523 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,360 Speaker 1: that these volumes do stay intact so that people can 524 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:37,360 Speaker 1: use them. In the future as well. And so that's 525 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,600 Speaker 1: a big aspect of keeping the collections there. It's not 526 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,720 Speaker 1: just curating them and finding the right volumes and the 527 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: thrill of the chase. It's making sure that they're they're around, 528 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,640 Speaker 1: that they're around for a while. And uh, to that point, 529 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,120 Speaker 1: we also talked to him about the future of these collections, 530 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: thinking about you guys especially, I mean, will these ever 531 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: be available for people to see even if you can't 532 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 1: make a trip all the way to the main building 533 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 1: of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue. And 534 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:10,120 Speaker 1: he mentioned that there is a digitization project going on 535 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:11,920 Speaker 1: at the New York Public Library, as I'm sure there 536 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:16,040 Speaker 1: are in many libraries around the world, and they're slowly, 537 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: i think, converting all these volumes or as many as 538 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: they can, to digital versions. So someday you may be 539 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 1: able to look us up from the comfort of your home. Yeah, 540 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 1: And that really does have to two values to it. 541 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:33,000 Speaker 1: One that if you have these high quality reproductions digital reproductions, 542 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:37,040 Speaker 1: not as many people need to touch that first manuscript 543 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,720 Speaker 1: of importance of being earnest if they're researching it. But also, yeah, 544 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:43,239 Speaker 1: people who can't make it to New York can can 545 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 1: take a look at some of this stuff, take a 546 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: look at that baseball card or the counter blast or 547 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,040 Speaker 1: whatever it may be. Obviously that holds a lot of 548 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: allure for us. We always need more materials for research, 549 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,480 Speaker 1: and so this was kind of a little bit of 550 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: a vanity podcast for us, I guess in that sense 551 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 1: because or maybe that question in particular was because we 552 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:06,960 Speaker 1: we really would love to have access to these. But 553 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:10,040 Speaker 1: that's about all we have for this episode on George 554 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:13,479 Speaker 1: Arrants and his collection. Um, I would love to know 555 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,600 Speaker 1: if any listeners out there have their own collections books 556 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: or otherwise that they've started as hobbies, side projects and 557 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:24,720 Speaker 1: have seen grown throughout the years. I mean, I would 558 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 1: really I have hobbies, but my hobbies are like playing 559 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: soccer or have been playing music or whatever. I haven't 560 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:34,480 Speaker 1: really collected anything ever, and that has always held a 561 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:36,920 Speaker 1: lot of fascination for me. Well, and I really liked 562 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,560 Speaker 1: the idea of a focused book collection because it meant 563 00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 1: that Arrants, even even when he was young, even when 564 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,400 Speaker 1: he didn't have a lot of money to spend on 565 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:49,960 Speaker 1: some of these more magnificent items or money to go 566 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:53,400 Speaker 1: off to London and collect a huge amount of work. 567 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 1: He had a collection even with just a few items, 568 00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 1: and that was the appeal. You know, if you have 569 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:03,320 Speaker 1: this fox gus to your collection, even a few books 570 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: are a collection that you don't need an entire library. Well, 571 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: I think that's a more hopeful way to look at it. 572 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,800 Speaker 1: So if you do have, if you've started, even if 573 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 1: it's with just a few books, book collection, or any 574 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 1: sort of collection, and you want to share that with us, 575 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,720 Speaker 1: please write us wre History Podcast at Discovery dot com. 576 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:23,360 Speaker 1: You can also look us up on Facebook or on 577 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: Twitter ATMs in history. And we also have a great 578 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: article out there for all of you guys who are 579 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:31,520 Speaker 1: trying to choose the prime things you'll be adding to 580 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:35,120 Speaker 1: your future collection. It's called top ten rare Book. Then 581 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:37,720 Speaker 1: you can find it by searching on our homepage at 582 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:45,080 Speaker 1: www dot house stepp works dot com. Be sure to 583 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:47,920 Speaker 1: check out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. 584 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 1: Join how stepp Work staff as we explore the most 585 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The Houstuff Works iPhone 586 00:31:55,520 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 1: app has a ride. Download it today on iTunes. Do 587 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: We Do? Do We