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Title: A Free Sample Bottle of Warner's Safe Cure
Description: Trade card advertising Warner's Safe Cure featuring a photograph of a woman's face surrounded by white fabric, lace, and feathers. The back details how to get a free sample of Warner's Safe Cure and lists the ailments it cures.
Conditions Cured (LC): Abscess, Acne, Asthma, Backache, Biliary Tract—Diseases, Bright's Disease, Catarrh, Constipation, Convulsions, Convulsions, Diabetes, Diarrhea, Dizziness, Edema, Fatigue, Food Poisoning, Gout, Headache, Impotence, Indigestion, Jaundice, Malaria, Neuralgia, Neurasthenia, Rheumatism, Sciatica, Tumors, Urinary Organs—Calculi, Vertigo
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Feathers, Hats, Lace And Lacemaking, Portraits, Women, Women's Hats
ID: WH375
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.

Subjects (LC)

Advertising—Medicine, Early works to 1800, Fever, Medicine, Patent medicines, Rheumatism

Title: Ayer's Cathartic Pills, a safe, pleasant and reliable Family Medicine
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Cathartic Pills featuring seven cherubic, naked babies handling oversized pill boxes and such with the words Ayer's Pills on them. Some babies are wrapping the items, some are pasting labels onto them, and some are filling them with pills. The back has an image of a bottle with name of the manufacturer on it: J.C. Ayer and lists what ailments Ayer's Cathartic Pills cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Biliary Tract—Diseases, Constipation, Dizziness, Headache, Indigestion, Jaundice
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Babies
ID: WH121
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Ayer's Cathartic Pills, a safe, pleasant and reliable Family Medicine
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Cathartic Pills featuring seven cherubic, naked babies handling oversized pill boxes and such with the words Ayer's Pills on them. Some babies are wrapping the items, some are pasting labels onto them, and some are filling them with pills. The back has an image of a bottle with name of the manufacturer on it: J.C. Ayer and lists what ailments Ayer's Cathartic Pills cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Biliary Tract—Diseases, Constipation, Dizziness, Headache, Indigestion, Jaundice
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Babies
ID: WH122
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Ayer's Cathartic Pills: the Country Doctor
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Cathartic Pills featuring an African-American man sitting with a little girl on his knee and a little boy sitting on the ground by his feet. The man is in formal attire, including a hat and eyeglasses, and is holding a pill box with the word Ayer's on it in his left hand and a pill in his right hand. The little girl is in a red-and-white, polka-dot dress and is holding a leaflet titled Ayer's Pills. The boy is looking up at them and holds something in his right hand. At the man's feet and the boy's knees is an open medicine case filled with Ayer's products. The back has an image of a bottle with name of the manufacturer on it: J.C. Ayer and lists what ailments Ayer's Cathartic Pills cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Biliary Tract—Diseases, Constipation, Diarrhea, Dizziness, Dysentery, Edema, Gout, Headache, Heartburn, Hemorrhoids, Indigestion, Jaundice, Nausea, Neuralgia, Rheumatism
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, African American Children, African American Men, African Americans, Children, Children's Clothing, Clothing And Dress, Eyeglasses, Families, Men's Clothing, Old Age
ID: WH120
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Ayer's Cherry Pectoral Cures Colds, Coughs & all Diseases of the Throat and Lungs
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Cherry Pectoral featuring an oversized bottle labeled Ayer's with two children at its side. The boy, on the left, is sitting and touching the bottle with his right hand and holding a spoon in his left. He is wearing a white tunic and red-and-white-striped socks. The girl, on the right, is standing, ostensibly trying to reach the top of the open bottle with her right hand, which holds a spoon. She is wearing a white, frilled dress, white stockings, a white bonnet tied with a blue ribbon, and blue Mary Janes. There is an enlarged branch with cherries on it in the top, left corner, and another, smaller sprig in the bottom, center. The back has images of two hands, one pouring a bottle, and one holding a spoon to catch the liquid. Listed on the back are the ailments Ayer's Cherry Pectoral cures.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthma, Catarrh, Cold (Disease), Cough, Croup, Influenza, Laryngitis, Throat—Diseases, Tuberculosis, Whooping Cough
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bottles, Cherry, Children, Children's Clothing, Clothing And Dress, Nature, Spoons
ID: WH119
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Ayer's Cherry Pectoral Cures Colds, Coughs & all Diseases of the Throat and Lungs
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Cherry Pectoral featuring an oversized bottle labeled Ayer's with two children at its side. The boy, on the left,is sitting and touching the bottle with his right hand and holding a spoon in his left. He is wearing a white tunic and red-and-white-striped socks. The girl, on the right, is standing, ostensibly trying to reach the top of the open bottle with her right hand, which holds a spoon. She is wearing a white, frilled dress, white stockings, a white bonnet tied with a blue ribbon, and blue Mary Janes. There is an enlarged branch with cherries on it in the top, left corner, and another, smaller sprig in the bottom, center. The back has images of two hands, one pouring a bottle, and one holding a spoon to catch the liquid. Listed on the back are the ailments Ayer's Cherry Pectoral cures.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthma, Catarrh, Cold (Disease), Cough, Croup, Influenza, Laryngitis, Throat—Diseases, Tuberculosis, Whooping Cough
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bottles, Cherry, Children, Children's Clothing, Clothing And Dress, Nature, Spoons
ID: WH118
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Ayer's Cherry Pectoral Cures Coughs Colds &c: Penn's Treaty
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Cherry Pectoral featuring an image of a meeting between seven colonists (William Penn and others) and seven Native Americans. The Native Americans sit and stand to the left, and the colonists on the right present two scrolls that read "Ayer's Cherry Pectoral and Cures Colds, Coughs, &c." William Penn is holding a medicine bottle. The image is loosely based on Benjamin West's oil painting "The Treaty of Penn with the Indians." The back has an image of hands pouring medicine into a spoon in the upper left and text listing the curative properties of Ayer's Cherry Pectoral.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthma, Catarrh, Cold (Disease), Cough, Croup, Influenza, Laryngitis, Throat—Diseases, Tuberculosis, Whooping Cough
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Ethnic Costume, Hats, Indians Of North America, Indigenous Peoples, Men, Treaties
ID: WH117
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

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: Ayer's Sarsaparilla
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Sarsaparilla featuring an image of a man in a dressing gown holding a bottle of Ayer's Sarsaparilla and reading a paper advertising the medicine. A woman wearing a bonnet and a dress with lace cuffs and collar reads over his shoulder and clasps his arm. The back explains the product's health benefits and has an image of an animal intertwined with the word "MIND."
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Body Fluids, Catarrh, Eczema, Furuncle, Indigestion, Lymph Node, Rheumatism, Tuberculosis
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bottles, Clothing And Dress, Lace And Lacemaking, Men, Men's Clothing, Sarsaparilla, Women, Women's Clothing, Women's Hats
ID: WH111
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Ayer's Sarsaparilla
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Sarsaparilla featuring an image of a man in a dressing gown holding a bottle of Ayer's Sarsaparilla and reading a paper advertising the medicine. A woman wearing a bonnet and a dress with lace cuffs and collar reads over his shoulder and clasps his arm. The back explains the product's health benefits and has an image of an animal intertwined with the word "MIND."
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Body Fluids, Catarrh, Eczema, Furuncle, Indigestion, Lymph Node, Rheumatism, Tuberculosis
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bottles, Clothing And Dress, Lace And Lacemaking, Men, Men's Clothing, Sarsaparilla, Women, Women's Clothing, Women's Hats
ID: WH112
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Ayer's Sarsaparilla: the Discovery of America
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Sarsaparilla featuring five men aboard a sailboat passing a land mass on which there is a large sign that reads "Ayer's Sarsaparilla." Text on the bottom of the card reads "The Discovery of America." The men are in various stages of interacting with one another. From left to right, the first man is looking out at the sea; the second man is holding a book and looks like he is about to speak; the third man is kneeling on one knee and holding out a golden cross; the fourth man is speaking to the fifth man and gesturing toward the land mass; while the fifth man is kneeling with one knee on a pile of rope, his hands on the edge of the boat, and is listening to the fourth. The back shows an image of a bottle of Ayer's Sarsaparilla with a wreath around its neck and text explaining its curative properties.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Scrofula
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, America, America—Discovery And Exploration, Boats And Boating, Clothing And Dress, Crosses—Cult, Hats, Holy Cross, Islands, Land Settlement, Men, Rope, Sailboats, Sailing Ships, Sea Life, Swords
ID: WH123
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Boyd's Medicated Conserves [from verso]
Description: Trade card advertising Boyd's Medicated Conserves featuring a blank space where one might presumably write an address. It is surrounded by a pink flower that a bee is pollinating. The back details how to get more illuminated cards by purchasing Boyd's products.
Conditions Cured (LC): Biliary Tract—Diseases, Headache
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bees, Flowers, Insects, Roses
ID: WH233
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Boyd's Miniature Galvanic Battery, For the effectual cure of nearly all diseases [from verso]
Description: Trade card advertising Boyd's Miniature Galvanic Battery featuring a blank card where one might presumably write an address. Tucked into the card is a bouquet of small, blue-and-pink flowers with one, larger red flower. The back details how to get more illuminated cards by purchasing Boyd's products.
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bouquets, Flowers
ID: WH232
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Brown's Iron Bitters
Description: Trade card advertising Brown's Iron Bitters featuring a woman peering out from behind a column with text that reads: "Brown's Iron Bitters." She is wearing a blue and white dress and a pink bonnet. Behind her is a tall, flowering bush. On the top left corner is an overlaid trade mark.
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Flowers, Hats, Nature, Women's Hats
ID: WH236
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Brown's Iron Bitters the Best Tonic Cures Malaria, Dyspepsia & Female Infirmities
Description: Trade card advertising Brown's Iron Bitters featuring a framed portrait of a woman's head. The glass of the frame is broken, revealing the woman's nose and mouth. She has brown hair that is in an updo and is wearing a brown dress and gold, hooped earrings. The back describes the disease malaria and how the Iron Bitters can help cure it.
Conditions Cured (LC): Indigestion, Malaria
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bows, Earrings, Glass, Gold Jewelry, Hair Ornaments, Picture Frames And Framing, Portrait Frames, Portraits, Ribbons, Women
ID: WH238
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Burdock Blood Bitters
Description: Trade card advertising Burdock Blood Bitters featuring a portrait of a woman in elegant dress with a red, feathered hat that is adorned with a large B pin of sorts on which is written Burdock Blood Bitters. She is wearing gold jewelry, including a choker with a B on it. Her dress is blue with lilies on it, and she has a small rose pinned to the front of her dress. The back has testimony from satisfied users.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthma, Catarrh, Cold (Disease), Croup, Hemorrhoids, Rheumatism
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Feathers, Flowers, Gold Jewelry, Portraits, Women's Hats
ID: WH241
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Burdock Blood Bitters
Description: Trade card advertising Burdock Blood Bitters featuring a portrait of an extravagantly-dressed woman with gold jewelry, flowers adorning her headdress and dress, and a tambourine. The back lists the benefits of taking Burdock Blood Bitters.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Embroidery, Flowers, Gold Jewelry, Musical Instruments, Portraits, Shawls, Tambourine
ID: WH127
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Burdock Blood Bitters
Description: Trade card advertising Burdock Blood Bitters featuring a young boy sitting on a pedestal, smiling largely. He is holding a bottle of Burdock Blood Bitters, and is dressed in an exuberant outfit with a white, fanned collar, a blue tunic with a yellow-and-red-striped sash, and pink socks with black boots. The back cautions against doing various activities while suffering from various ailments that Burdock Blood Bitters helps cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Biliary Tract—Diseases, Constipation, Indigestion
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bottles, Children, Children's Clothing, Clothing And Dress, Portraits
ID: WH129
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Burdock Blood Bitters
Description: Trade card advertising Burdock Blood Bitters featuring a portrait of a woman in elegant dress with a red, feathered hat that is adorned with a large B pin of sorts on which is written Burdock Blood Bitters. She is wearing gold jewelry, including a choker with a B on it. Her dress is blue with lilies on it, and she has a small rose pinned to the front of her dress. The back has partially-obscured testimony from Burdock Blood Bitters users.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Headache, Indigestion
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Feathers, Flowers, Gold Jewelry, Portraits, Women's Hats
ID: WH240
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

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