The Patent Medicines Industry in Georgian England: Constructing the Market by the Potency of Print

Description

In this book, the ownership, distribution and sale of patent medicines across Georgian England are explored for the first time, transforming our understanding of healthcare provision and the use of the printed word in that era. Patent medicines constituted a national industry which was largely popular, reputable and stable, not the visible manifestation of dishonest quackery as described later by doctors and many historians. Much of the distribution, promotion and sale of patent medicines was centrally controlled with directed advertising, specialisation, fixed prices and national procedures, and for the first time we can see the detailed working of a national market for a class of Georgian consumer goods. Furthermore, contemporaries were aware that changes in the consumers’ ‘imagination’ increased the benefits of patent medicines above the effects of their pharmaceutical components. As the imagination was altered by the printed word, print can be considered as an essential ingredient of patent medicines. This book will challenge the assumptions of all those interested in the medical, business or print history of the period. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi Introduction (Alan Mackintosh)....Pages 1-24 The Status of Patent Medicines (Alan Mackintosh)....Pages 25-71 Constructing the Industry (Alan Mackintosh)....Pages 73-118 Connecting the Country (Alan Mackintosh)....Pages 119-152 Supplying the Consumer (Alan Mackintosh)....Pages 153-188 Persuading the Poorly (Alan Mackintosh)....Pages 189-210 Utilising the Imagination as Therapy (Alan Mackintosh)....Pages 211-229 Harnessing the Potency of Print (Alan Mackintosh)....Pages 231-259 The Legacy of the Patent Medicines Industry (Alan Mackintosh)....Pages 261-274 Back Matter ....Pages 275-320