This is the first American book to consider the history and development of the tobacco-smoking pipe as an art form and is an illustrated guide for pipe collectors. Here the author has assembled fact and fancy, history laced with humor, and a chronological collection of pipes. The accompanying text explains pipe styles, materials, and values. Besides present-day briars and corn cobs, pipes can be found made of meerschaum, porcelain, ivory, amber, silver, gold, semi-precious stones and rare woods. Craftsmen have combined imagination, whim, and fantasy to create pipes of fine artistic value.[AuthorName]Ben Rapaport[/AuthorName][AuthorBio]Ben Rapaport has been an avid pipe collector for more than twenty years and is the author of A Tobacco Source Book (1972). His interest has led him to acquire a great library for tobacco research, which he shares in the form of a chapter of recommended reading. Included are his suggestions for repairs and restoration to pipes.[/AuthorBio][NumIllustration]236 b/w photos/32 color illus.[/NumIllustration][CoAuthor][/CoAuthor][SubTitle][/SubTitle][ColorPattern]236 b/w photos/32 color illus.[/ColorPattern]