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Hookah smoking in colonial Calcutta

Hookah smoking began in the royal courts of Mughal India, and like many other local customs, it was readily adopted by British colonials in the 18th century as a symbol of wealth and status.

  • Article

What the nose doesn’t know

Losing her sense of smell for over a year motivated Stephanie Howard-Smith to sniff out the history of treatments for this unsettling condition.

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Images

  • Gentlemen round a table at their club, smoking and drinking punch. Coloured mezzotint, late 18th century.
  • Compass Microscope - 18th century development of the Murschenbroek simple microscope. It has a circular disc carrying lens of various powers.
  • Three men round a barrel drinking, smoking and conversing. Engraving by F. Basan, mid 18th century, after I. van Ostade.
  • An Abyssinian woman sits on the floor near a smoking hooka. Coloured lithograph by J. Heicke after I. Forray, 18th century.
  • Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten sitting at a table with a jug, a drinking glass and a smoking pipe. Engraving by A. Bannerman, mid 18th century, after P. Roestraten.
  • Five Flemish men smoke, drink and sleep in a dingy smoke den. Engraving by D. Sornique, early 18th century, after D. Teniers, the younger.
  • The interior of a dingy smoke den where groups of men smoke, drink and play cards. Engraving by P. Moitte, 18th century, after a painting by D. Teniers, the younger.
  • The interior of a dingy smoke den where groups of men smoke, drink and play cards. Engraving by F. del Pedro, 18th century, after a painting by D. Teniers, the younger.
  • Five Flemish men, old and young alike, smoke and drink in a dingy smoke den. Engraving by T. Jorma (T. Major), 18th century, after a painting by D. Teniers, the younger.
  • Four Flemish men smoke and drink in a dingy smoke den, a man leans on the wall behind. Engraving by L. Lempereur, late 18th century, after a painting by D. Teniers, the younger.
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