A Counterblaste to Tobacco

King James I of Great Britain wrote this treatise, one of the earliest examples of anti-tobacco literature. The monarch inveighs against recreational uses of the plant, seeing the practice as both a social and health problem. Smoking, in particular, incenses him: he calls it “a custome loathsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, [and] dangerous to the lungs.” Though he did not ban the use of tobacco, James imposed a 4,000 percent tax on its sale. When this failed to decrease demand, he took a more pragmatic approach: nationalizing the entire tobacco trade, so that profits went directly to the Crown. This first-edition copy is part of the Library’s George Arents Collection, which documents the history, culture, and lore of tobacco.