Items

Title: A collection of choise receipts : manuscript, circa 1680-1700
Description: Late 17th-centrury English manuscript divided into two parts: "A Collection of Choise Receipts" and "A Book of Physical Receipts." The first part of the manuscript contains approximately 390 recipes on 254 numbered pages. Of the recipes in the first part approximately 204 are culinary and approximately 175 are for medicines, perfumes, sweet bags, cosmetics, and household cleaners. A large portion of the culinary recipes concern banqueting, particularly fruit preserving; wines, liqueurs, non-medicinal waters, and syrups; and cakes and biscuits. Dinner and supper recipes, such as puddings, meat, poultry, and fish, are also well represented. The second part contains approximately 781 medicinal recipes on 214 numbered pages. Various diseases and conditions such as ague, bleeding, consumption, colic, dropsy, fits, fever, plague, pox, and stone are mentioned. Both parts are followed by indexes. The entire manuscript is written in one very legible hand, possibly that of a professional scribe. The characters "J H" appear frequently in the first part of the manuscript. Many of the recipes are attributed, some to nobility.
Subjects (LC): Cooking, English -- Early works to 1800, Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions -- Early works to 1800, Traditional medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Manuscripts, English -- 17th century

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

Description

This manuscript contains 500 Greek and Roman recipes from the fourth and fifth century, both culinary and medical, reflecting the polyglot culture of the Mediterranean basin. Sometimes referred to as the oldest extant cookbook in the West, the manuscript is divided into ten books. It is likely that the Apicius began as a Greek collection, mainly written in Latin, and adapted for a Roman palate. The collection is likely compiled from many sources, as no evidence exists that Apicius (a Roman gourmet in 1st century AD), authored a book of cookery. Our manuscript was penned in several hands in a mix of Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian scripts at the monastery at Fulda (Germany) around 830 AD. It is one of two manuscripts (the other at the Vatican) presumed to have been copied from a now lost common source. The Apicius manuscript is the gem of the Academy’s Margaret Barclay Wilson Collection of cookery, acquired in 1929.

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Subjects (LC)

Cookbooks, Cooking, Latin peoples, Cooking, Mediterranean, Cooking, Roman, Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medicine

Title: Nearly 50 Years the Favorite: Piso's Cure a Medicine for Coughs, Colds Etc.
Description: Trade card advertising Piso's Cure featuring a woman pulling a red-headed boy over a wooden fence by the back neck of his shirt. His hat is falling off, and he is barefooted. She is blond and is wearing a small, brown hat. There are fruit trees on the woman's side of the fence. The back is a blank template for a postcard.
Conditions Cured (LC): Cold (Disease), Cough
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Fruit Trees, Hats, Nature, Trees, Wooden Fences
ID: WH330
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Nearly 50 Years the Favorite: Piso's Cure a Medicine for Coughs Colds Etc.
Description: Trade card advertising Piso's Cure featuring a scene of two men constructing or deconstructing a wooden dock on the Allegheny River. A red-wheeled wheelbarrow on the bank holds wooden planks. There is an island in river that has a red-and-white house. There are forested hills on the farther shorelines. The back is a blank template for a postcard.
Conditions Cured (LC): Cold (Disease), Cough
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Carpenters, Carts And Carriages, Hats, Housing, Islands, Marshes, Nature, Trees, Water, Woodworkers
ID: WH329
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: If You would have a darling Ride, Try the Catville Toboggan Slide
Description: Trade card advertising Dr. Thomas' Eclectric Oil featuring a cat on a toboggan. It has a red blanket over the bottom half of its body and is reaching for its kittens who seemingly fell off the ride. A crescent moon and stars are in the sky. The back lists the ailments the Oil can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Backache, Burns And Scalds, Cold (Disease), Cough, Deafness, Earache, Hoarseness, Throat—Diseases, Toothache
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Blankets, Cats, Moon, Nature, Sleds, Snow, Toboggans, Trees
ID: WH365
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Parker's Ginger Tonic
Description: Trade card advertising Parker's Hair Balsam and Parker's Ginger Tonic featuring a formally-dressed man sitting in an armchair defending himself against devilish creatures with an oversized box of Parker's Ginger Tonic. On the creatures' wings are written various ailments the Tonic cures. There is a broken crutch by the man's feet. The back describes the ailments the Balsam and the Tonic cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Body Fluids, Cold (Disease), Cough, Dandruff, Diarrhea, Heartburn, Indigestion, Itching, Neuralgia, Rheumatism, Tuberculosis
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Costume, Crutches, Demonology, Devil, Domestic Space, Folklore, Men, Mythology
ID: WH318
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Dr. White's Celebrated Cough Drops [from verso]
Description: Trade card advertising Dr. White's Cough Drops featuring a sailboat in a body of water at sunset. To the left is a a rocky outcrop with a lighthouse. At the top of the card are a bunch of pansies. The back lists the ailments the Cough Drops can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Cold (Disease), Cough, Hoarseness
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Boats And Boating, Flowers, Lighthouses, Nature, Ocean, Pansies, Rocks, Sailboats, Sunset Phenomena, Water
ID: WH379
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: Wheat Bitters
Description: Trade card advertising What Bitters featuring an image of a naked angel driving a cart with a large bottle of Wheat Bitters on it. The cart is pulled by two dogs, and two more naked angels run behind it. The back lists the curative properties of Wheat Bitters.
Conditions Cured (LC): Biliary Tract—Diseases, Constipation, Delirium Tremens, Fever, Indigestion, Jaundice, Malaria, Neuralgia, Paralysis
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Angels, Animals, Bottles, Carriages And Carts, Cherubs, Dogs, Folklore, Grasslands, Mythology, Stone Walls, Trees
ID: WH196
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: Dr. White's Celebrated Cough Drops [from verso]
Description: Trade card advertising Dr. White's Cough Drops featuring a group of four people in a row boat rowing towards a sailboat. In the background is another sailboat and a cloudy sky. At the top of the card is a bunch of orange and pink flowers. The back lists the ailments the Cough Drops can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Cold (Disease), Cough, Hoarseness
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Boats And Boating, Clouds, Flowers, Nature, Ocean, Sailboats, Water, Water Waves
ID: WH378
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: This is all right, Hood's Sarsaparilla Can't Fool me twice
Description: Trade card advertising Hood's Sarsaparilla featuring an elderly man outside a pharmacy looking at a box of Hood's Sarsaparilla. He is wearing a yellow jacket and holding a red umbrella under his left arm. Behind him are buildings and a fountain. The back is an advertisement for a concert as well as a description of the ailments Hood's Sarsaparilla can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Headache, Indigestion
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Clothing And Dress, Drugstores, Fountains, Hats, Men, Men's Hats, Owls, Portraits, Umbrellas, Water
ID: WH388
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
Description: Trade card advertising Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, Lydia E. Pinkham's Liver Pills, Lydia E. Pinkham's Blood Purifier, and Lydia E. Pinkham's Sanative Wash featuring an image of a fisherman in a wooden boat on a body of water. In the background there is a large house with a smoking chimney, a bridge, a mountain, and some greenery. The image is framed by sprigs of pink flowers. The back lists the benefits of the items advertised.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Backache, Depression, Headache, Indigestion, Insomnia, Neurasthenia, Peptic Ulcer, Tumors
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bridges, Chimneys, Fishing, Flowers, Hats, Mountains, Nature, Smoke Plumes, Trees, Water, Water And Architecture
ID: WH187
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Dr. White's Cough Drops Are the Best
Description: Trade card advertising Dr. White's Cough Drops featuring a yellow rose and berries on the left and a circular image of a snowy landscape on the right. Within the image are a small house, a fence, some rocks, and some snow-covered trees. The back lists the ailments the Cough Drops can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Cold (Disease), Cough, Hoarseness
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Berries, Flowers, Housing, Leaves, Nature, Rocks, Snow, Trees, Wooden Fences
ID: WH380
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title

Aristotle’s Masterpiece, Or The Secrets of Generation displayed in all the parts thereof

Description

Published initially in 1684 and popular in both America and England for over two hundred years, this became the most widely reprinted medical book in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The contributions of the Masterpiece were not particularly scientific, but drew largely from Hippocrates, and Galen, as well as other classical and medieval writers. The source material came from two earlier books: Levinus Lemnius’s Secret Miracles of Nature, originally published in Latin in 1599, and The Complete Midwives Practice Enlarged (author unknown). Chapter headings include sections titled, “The Signs of Barrenness” “The Way of getting to a Boy or a Girl,” “How a Midwife Ought to be Qualified” and “A Word of Advice to both Sexes in the Act of Copulation.” The information this title offered on conception, pregnancy, and childbirth wasn’t particularly innovative; many seventeenth century discoveries in gynecology are absent from the text and replaced by Hippocratic pathology, or by superstition. The “Aristotle” of the title was pseudonymous, and likely evoked by the book’s author to give the tome scientific credibility. The book’s true author is unknown, though Culpepper and William Salmon, an English physician and author, are sometimes credited.

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