Authors:
- Reveals that patent medicines constituted a national industry in Georgian England, challenging accounts of dishonest quackery described later by doctors and historians
- Offers insight into the workings of a national market for Georgian consumer goods, beyond studies of individual companies or wholesalers
- Opens up a new area of research for print historians, investigating the effect of the printed word on human health
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Modern History (MBSMH)
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
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.
Reviews
“This is an interesting book that explores uncharted waters or, more exactly, looks differently at waters that had previously been analyzed, but in a superficial way. It fills a gap in the history of pharmacy and medicines, between the continuity of ancient and medieval tradition that slowly faded up to the late 16th century and the development of modern chemistry and the industrial revolution, leading to the creation of the pharmaceutical industry.” (Alain Touwaide, Doody's Book Reviews, April, 2018)
Authors and Affiliations
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Centre for History and Philosophy of Science, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
Alan Mackintosh
About the author
Alan Mackintosh is Research Fellow in the Centre for the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds, UK. He is a former Consultant Cardiologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, and Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds. He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and of the European Society of Cardiology.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Patent Medicines Industry in Georgian England
Book Subtitle: Constructing the Market by the Potency of Print
Authors: Alan Mackintosh
Series Title: Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Modern History
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69778-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-69777-2Published: 19 December 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-88841-5Published: 04 September 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-69778-9Published: 04 December 2017
Series ISSN: 2947-9142
Series E-ISSN: 2947-9150
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 320
Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 7 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Science, History of Medicine, History of Britain and Ireland, Legal History