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Distinctive Designs in Wellcome Foundation Product Literature
In Summer 2016 the Wellcome Library acquired two maroon metallic boxes containing a selection of product literature issued by the Wellcome Foundation pharmaceutical company from the 1940s through to the 1960s (Wellcome Library reference: WF/M/PL/437). These have been added to… Continue reading
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The rise and fall of Sequah
Few patent medicine advertising campaigns could have been as quirky as that of the Sequah Medicine Company. A browse through the late 19th century issues of the Chemist and Druggist journal traces the rise and fall of the Sequah business.… Continue reading
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Hoping for prosperity in the New Year
One hundred years ago, on 1 January 1916, the Chemist and Druggist trade magazine presented the annual opportunity for manufacturers, wholesalers and importers to woo their retail pharmacist customers with new year greetings. Browse through the New Year’s issue and… Continue reading
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Chemical Christmas greetings
Dip into the recently digitised issues of the Chemist & Druggist journal and you will find some colourful examples of pharmaceutical advertising – especially at Christmas. Medical suppliers frequently used the pages of this trade magazine to promote their wares.… Continue reading
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Dyeing for whiskers
There have always been attempts to curb the hair loss and greyness long associated with ageing. A beard that grew a different colour to the head hair, for example, could be – and still can be – an irritating inconsistency.… Continue reading
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Masculinity and shaving advertisements
To mark Movember, we invited “pogonographer-in-chief” Alun Withey, to commission a month of posts celebrating the history and culture of facial hair. Here’s the fourth in the series, by Justin Bengry. Having slept little, enjoying only a fitful and restless… Continue reading
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The good, the bad and the antibacterial
The Secret of Health, with the Story of the Missing Bag is a combined story and lay medical tract that was published by Lever Brothers Ltd. (which later became Unilever) and is essentially an extended advert for Lifebuoy Soap. It… Continue reading
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Dr Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People
Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease that has been around since antiquity. It has gone by many names: phthisis (the original Greek name), consumption, the white plague – and many treatments have been offered over the years. One example of a… Continue reading
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Christmas sells: an example of seasonal advertising
Whether its celebrity spotting in perfume campaigns or the cuteness of the John Lewis penguin, Christmas themed advertising is now almost as much a seasonal tradition as the Queen’s Christmas message. As this bookmark from the 1890s shows, Christmas advertising… Continue reading
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Spotlight: Dr Joshua Webster’s Diet Drink
The makers of a Georgian universal remedy known as Dr Webster’s Diet Drink or Cerevisia Anglicana (English Beer) were clearly on to a good thing when they inherited the recipe. This ‘medicine’ had been reportedly formulated in 1742 by a… Continue reading