The art of opium antiques

Reference & Research Book News, Feb, 2008

The art of opium antiques.

Martin, Steven. Photographs by Paul Lakatos.

Silkworm Books

2007

125 pages

$27.50

Paperback

RC568

California native Martin has been traveling and collecting in Asia since 1981 and owns one of the world's most comprehensive collections of antique opium paraphernalia. Featuring some 100 full-color photographs of the author's collection and ten rarely seen historical photographs, this text provides a fascinating look at the custom of opium smoking and the highly imaginative paraphernalia and accoutrements associated with it, whose artistic sophistication peaked in the 19th century in China and Chinese communities abroad, from Saigon to Singapore to San Francisco. No subject index.

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