Items

Title: Morse's Yellow Dock the Great Blood Purifier and Kidney Remedy
Description: Trade card advertising Morse's Yellow Dock featuring a kitten's head turned to the right. The kitten is brown and white. The back has a dataset for countries around the world.
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Cats
ID: WH310
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Morse's Yellow Dock the Great Blood Purifier and Kidney Remedy
Description: Trade card advertising Morse's Yellow Dock featuring a kitten's head turned to the right. Around its neck is a blue bow with some red in it. The back has a dataset for countries around the world.
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Bows, Cats
ID: WH309
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Mother Swan's Worm Syrup
Description: Trade card advertising Mother Swan's Worm Syrup, Wells' Complete Cure, Wells' May Apple Pills, Wells' Health Renewer, and Buchu-Paiba featuring various illustrations related to the different items advertised. There is a picture of a swan with its children, a picture of a dead rat, and a picture of a man leaning his head back and opening his mouth. The back is a blank template for a postcard.
Conditions Cured (LC): Agitation (Psychology), Biliary Tract—Diseases, Constipation, Fever, Helminths, Impotence, Indigestion
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Rats, Swans, Water
ID: WH376
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Parker's Ginger Tonic: the Best Health and Strength Restorer
Description: Trade card advertising Parker's Ginger Tonic, Parker's Hair Balsam, and Floreston Cologne featuring a text-based panel flanked by two images of men. The one on the left features a man bending over in what seems to be a coughing fit. The one on the right features a man at peace who seems to have just taken the Tonic being advertised. The back lists the benefits of each item advertised.
Conditions Cured (LC): Cough, Dandruff, Indigestion, Rheumatism
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Men, Men's Clothing, Men's Hats
ID: WH180
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title

An Abstract of the Patent Granted by His Majesty King George…

Description

Patent medicines originated in England in the mid 17th century and were marketed with extravagant claims, offering cures for a host of maladies. Recommendations for dosage were vague, and ingredients (often including opium) were usually not specified. In 1726 Benjamin Okell was granted the royal patent for Dr. Bateman’s Pectoral Drops, a tincture of gambir (an astringent extract from an Asian plant) and opium. Advertisements published in the London Mercury as early as 1721 directed prospective customers to the warehouse and printing shop at Bow's Churchyard, where they could purchase the drops for one shilling. Our copy of the 1731 reprint by Peter Zenger is likely the first piece of medical printing in New York. Zenger, who would later become famous for printing seditious texts, was instrumental in establishing freedom of the press in America. The Academy has the only known copy. Bound with our copy of the abstract is a copy of A Short treatise of the virtues of Dr. Bateman's Pectoral Drops, also issued by Okell and his printing house partners. Here, Batemans efficacy as a treatment for numerous ailments are described in sections dedicated to each. The last section of the treatise offers testimonials from satisfied customers.

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