author

George Latimer Apperson

1857–1937

A school inspector with a deep love of language and social history, he wrote books that turn old customs, sayings, and everyday habits into lively reading. He is especially remembered for his work on English proverbs, Jane Austen, and the long story of smoking in Britain.

1 Audiobook

The Social History of Smoking

The Social History of Smoking

by George Latimer Apperson

About the author

George Latimer Apperson (1857–1937) was a British school inspector and man of letters. Alongside his official work, he built a reputation as an energetic literary scholar and editor, serving as editor of The Antiquary from 1899 to 1915 and contributing extensively to the Oxford English Dictionary.

His books show a wide curiosity about the past and about the way people actually spoke and lived. Among his best-known works are The Social History of Smoking (1914), English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases: A Historical Dictionary (1929), and A Jane Austen Dictionary (1932), along with earlier collections on old London life and social history.

What makes Apperson appealing to modern readers is his knack for gathering detail without losing the human side of his subjects. Whether he was tracing a proverb, explaining a literary reference, or exploring forgotten customs, he wrote with the feeling that history is most interesting when it is close to daily life.