Henry James Meller

Henry James Meller is a relatively obscure 19th-century author whose name is now chiefly linked to Nicotiana; Or, The Smoker's and Snuff-Taker's Companion. That book was published in London by Effingham Wilson in 1832, and later editions also appeared in the 1830s.

In Nicotiana, he set out to gather the history of tobacco, its cultivation, supposed medical qualities, and the laws surrounding its importation and manufacture. The book also promises original poetry and anecdotes, which gives it a tone that is more lively and personal than a purely technical handbook.

Reliable biographical details about Meller himself are hard to confirm from readily available sources, so much of his life remains unclear. What can be said with confidence is that his work survives as an unusual example of early-19th-century social and cultural writing built around a single, passionately defended subject.