Items

Title

Facendo Il Libro: The Making of Fasciculus Medicinae, an Early Printed Anatomy

Description

The collection includes five editions of the Fasciculus Medicinae printed between the years of 1495 and 1522. The Fasciculus medicinae—literally, the “little bundle of medicine”—is a small group of independently-authored medical treatises and illustrations first printed in 1491. Remarkable as one of the earliest illustrated medical books to be printed, the Fasciculus was reprinted in dozens of different editions and translated into the major European vernacular languages into the 1520s. The Fasciculus also serves as an important witness to a dynamic period of change, reflecting both medieval medical ideas and new advances spurred by the humanistic surge associated with the Renaissance. This is perhaps best illustrated by the inclusion of the first printed scene of human dissection, an indication of the growing importance of empirical investigations of the interior. The images attached to the Fasciculus are a blend of diagrams copied from medieval manuscripts alongside newer, narrative-based scenes demonstrating the modern taste for classical styles in figures and interiors.

EXPLORE OUR NEW ONLINE EXHIBIT TO LEARN MORE →

This digital collection was made possible by generous support from The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

Title: Gessner's Unicorn
Description: The Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner's 4,500-page encyclopedia of animals, the Historia Animalium, makes even the prolific Gilderoy Lockhart look like a slouch. Part fantasy, part observation, Gessner's dense and exuberant animal kingdom included creatures real and imaginary, running the gamut from sea monsters and whales to diminutive tabby cats. Of the unicorn, Gessner writes that its horn marrow, cut with a little wine, could heal a man who'd eaten a poisoned cherry, and could cure a number of ailments. All the better to keep young wizards out of the Hogwarts hospital wing.
Collection: How to Pass Your O.W.L.s at Hogwarts: A Prep Course

Title: Compliments of John S. Shaffer & Co., Druggists, Dealers in Dr. C. McLean's Liver Pills and Vermifuge
Description: Trade card advertising Dr. C. McLane's Liver Pills and Vermifuge featuring a bunch of pansies tied together with a red string. The back contains a customer testimony.
Conditions Cured (LC): Helminths
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bouquets, Bows, Flowers, Pansies, Ribbons
ID: WH297
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Should Midsummer Urgency Be Met By Midsummer Appeal?
Description: Articles from the NY Times and the New York Press are reproduced on this 1911 postcard printed by the New York Milk Committee's Bureau of Municipal Research. "Asks $10,000 To Aid Babies," from the Times, highlights the efforts of Commissioner Lederle to increase city appropriations for the service of milk depots. "Why Milk Stations Are Worth While," from the NY Press, compares infant mortality statistics from 1911 to those of the previous year, noting the crucial role played by milk stations in the current year's reduction of deaths. A portrait of a healthy baby and a list of "Babies' Rights,"almost all of which deal with milk, are found on the postcard verso.
Subjects (LC): Milk, Health, Mortality, Law and legislation
ID: mk1e011
Geographic Subject: New York. New York City.
Collection: New York Milk Committee Ephemera Collection

Title: If you are Weak, Languid, Nervous or Suffer from Dyspepsia
Description: Trade card printed on two sides advertising Iron Bitters for the treatment of digestive ailments.
Subjects (LC): Care giving, Couples
Language: English
ID: WH281
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Your Cough or Cold can be Cured by Using Hartshorn's Cough Balsam
Description: Trade card advertising Hartshorn's Cough Balsam featuring an image of a tree with songbirds. In the background there is a body of water with a house on the shore. The back outlines why Hartshorn's Cough Balsam has gained popularity in the past, the ailments it cures, and the price.
Conditions Cured (LC): Bronchitis, Cold (Disease), Cough, Influenza, Lungs—Congestion, Pneumonia, Whooping Cough
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Birds, Carriage Houses, Nature, Trees, Water And Architecture
ID: WH137
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Hunnewell's Universal Cough Remedy
Description: Trade card printed on two sides advertising Hunnewell's Universal Cough Remedy — "will cure your cough."
Subjects (LC): Birdcages, Mothers and children
Manufacturer: Gilman Brothers (Boston (Mass.))
Language: English
ID: WH278
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Case History Card: Conditions Previous to Admittance

Title: The Conclusion of the Matter [from verso]
Description: Trade card printed on two sides advertising compound oxygen, to be inhaled as a treatment for disease and debility.
Subjects (LC): Corsets, Interiors, Women
Manufacturer: Drs. Starkey and Palen (Philadelphia (Pa.))
Language: English
ID: WH250
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Saving Through Education: Will You Reprint This?
Description: A double-sided postcard promoting healty diets for inants and children aged 18 months to three years, including sample breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus. The abilities of science and common sense to reduce infant mortality are also touted. On the back, photos depicting a plump, healthy baby and a guant, distressed baby are contrasted. "A Story" accompanies the images, as does the New York Milk Committee's address, where care givers can find more information to "make mother knowing."
Subjects (LC): Infants, Nutrition, Food, Menus, Poetry
ID: mk1e015
Geographic Subject: New York. New York City.
Collection: New York Milk Committee Ephemera Collection

Title: 27. An account of William Burke, who was executed at Edinburgh, on Wednesday the 28th day of January, 1829, for murder : with the confession he made while under sentence of death
Description: Tract printed on laid paper. Disbound and mounted. Illustrated title page. At head of title: Cheap tracts, no. 16.
Collection: The Resurrectionists

Title: Distillation Apparatus
Description: Serviceable copper cauldrons may be found for first years at Potage's in Diagon Alley, but for more advanced potions, students can consult the pages of Philipp Ulstadt's work on distillation for an apparatus upgrade. Ulstadt, a Swiss physician and professor whose very popular Coelum Philosophorum contained concise technical instructions for the processes of distillation, illustrated his manual with hand-colored woodcuts. Among Ulstadt's recipes are many for distillates of herbs and plants with wine, directions for making aqua vitae, and recipes for potable gold. Read closely, and you may find a formula for the molten gold Felix Felicis is near...we wish you lots of Liquid Luck.
Collection: How to Pass Your O.W.L.s at Hogwarts: A Prep Course

Title: 26. Authentic confessions of William Burk, who was executed at Edinburgh, on 28th January 1829, for murder, emited before the sheriff-substitute of Edinburgh, the Rev. Mr Reid, Catholic priest, and others, in the jail, on 3d and 22d January
Description: Disbound pamphlet. Illustrated. Portrait of William Burke appears on the title page. An illustration of Daft Jamie appears on page 7.
Collection: The Resurrectionists

$La methode curative des playes, et fractures de la teste humaine avec les pourtraits des instruments$

Title

La methode curative des playes, et fractures de la teste humaine avec les pourtraits des instruments

Description

Ambroise Paré is renowned as the father of modern surgery. In obstetrics, Paré pioneered a new way of turning an infant in the uterus. He also made significant advancements in the treatment of hernias, the fitting of artificial limbs and eyes, and devised a new instrument to reduce hemorrhage after amputation. As with much of his work, the Methode Curative was widely distributed and reached a large audience. Long considered a classic text on the treatment of head wounds, this book contains 74 woodcuts, many hand-colored and adapted from the corpus of Vesalius. The first section, devoted to the anatomy of the head, is illustrated with woodcuts. The anatomical engravings were modified from the woodcuts of Vesalius and completed by the talented Jean le Royer, King’s Printer. The second part of the book details the treatment of head wounds, skull fractures and diseases of the face. Included in this section are drawings of surgical instruments, many fashioned by Paré himself. The book contains the woodcut portrait by Jean Cousin, printed in an oval surrounded by Paré’s motto, “Labor improbus omnia vincit” (hard work conquers all). It is bound in limp vellum, with a gold-tooled vignette on the cover.

READ MORE→

Subjects (LC)

Anthropometry, Early works to 1800, General Surgery, Head—Anatomy, Head—Wounds and injuries, Medical illustration, Medicine, Surgery, Surgery—History, Surgical instruments and apparatus, Wood-engraving, Wounds and Injuries

Title: Ayer's Hair Vigor for the Toilet: Restores Gray Hair to its Natural Vitality and Color
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Hair Vigor featuring five mermaids, four of whom arein the forefront in various stages of using Ayer's Hair Vigor. The fifth is swimming off to a ship that seems to be capsizing in the background. The back has an image of an Ayer's Hair Vigor bottle and two brushes. It also lists the ailments Ayer's Hair Vigor helps combat.
Conditions Cured (LC): Baldness, Dandruff
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Boats And Boating, Bottles, Flowers, Hair, Hair—Care And Hygiene, Hairbrushes, Mermaids, Ocean, Ocean—Folklore, Ocean—Mythology, Plant-Water Relationships, Sailboats, Sailing Ships, Women
ID: WH125
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Hanson's Magic Corn Salve
Description: Trade card advertising Hanson's Magic Corn Salve featuring a man in a three-piece suit holding a bouquet of flowers. His mustache is pointed at the ends, and he is framed by flowers that resemble Morning Glories. The back warns customers against counterfeit products.
Conditions Cured (LC): Bunion
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bouquets, Clothes And Dress, Costume, Eyeglasses, Flowers, Mustaches
ID: WH271
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title

William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Description

The William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards contains approximately 300 colorful pharmaceutical trade cards produced in the U.S. and France between 1875 and 1895 that were used to advertise a wide range of goods in the nineteenth century; although introduced (in the mid-eighteenth century) as an ephemeral form of advertisement, they soon became collectors' items and were mass-produced in collectible 'series' comparable to those produced by sports teams in the twentieth century. They are now regarded as some of the best source material for the study of advertising, technology and trade in the post-Civil War period.

The collection was donated to the Academy Library by Mr. Helfand (one of the nation's leading collectors of medical ephemera) in a series of individual gifts between 1986 and 1992. The collection includes a number of duplicates, some of which are useful for scholarly study (e.g. bearing the stamps of different distributing pharmacists).

Scope Note: A collection of approximately 300 trade cards, ca. 1875 - ca. 1925 (bulk ca. 1875 - ca. 1914). Almost all advertise patent medicines or herbal remedies; a few deal with cosmetics, chocolate, or veterinary products. The collection includes a small number of French, German, Italian and Spanish cards; however, the bulk of collection is from the United States. Some of the companies represented manufactured the medicines and products advertised on the cards; others are local pharmacies which had their names printed onto cards advertising products they distributed. Many of the medicines and remedies claim to cure almost any complaint, or to address generalized conditions such as weakness, nervousness and general debility. Others address specific conditions or groups of ailments. Only a few cards list the printer or lithographer responsible for producing the image; very few indicate a date of publication or copyright.

Historical Note: Trade cards are small illustrated advertisements that were distributed for free by manufacturers and retailers from the 17th century to the early 20th century. Following the Civil War, trade cards became enormously popular in the United States and were the most effective mass advertising medium until the end of the 19th century. Late 19th century American trade cards were typically small pasteboard cards printed with illustrations in multiple colors. These cards were either custom-produced for one firm or store, or issued as stock cards. Stock cards allowed a manufacturer or retailer to have printed or stamped their advertisement and/or name and address on the front or back of an existing illustrated card, thus avoiding the expense of having one specially made.

Helfand, William H. The William H. Helfand collection of pharmaceutical trade cards. United States & France, 1875-1925.

Title: Pond's Extract Co.
Description: Trade card advertising Pond's Extract featuring two autumnal-colored leaves. The back warns against counterfeits and lists the ailments Pond's Extract can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthma, Bruises, Burns And Scalds, Catarrh, Diphtheria, Furuncle, Headache, Hemorrhage, Hoarseness, Inflammation, Neuralgia, Peptic Ulcer, Rheumatism, Sprains, Throat—Diseases, Toothache
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Leaves, Nature
ID: WH332
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Dr. Roger's Syrup
Description: Trade card printed on two sides advertising Dr. Roger's Syrup, a cough remedy.
Manufacturer: Manhattan Medicine Co. (New York (N.Y.))
Language: English
ID: WH338
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Hunt's Remedy [from verso]
Description: Trade card printed on two sides advertising Hunt's remedy, "the best kidney and liver medicine."
Subjects (LC): Children
Manufacturer: Hunt's Remedy Co. (Providence (R.I.))
Language: English
ID: WH279
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

LIBRARY DIGITAL COLLECTIONS & EXHIBITS

Warning message

Pages

Pages