The Old Print Shop

The Great East River Suspension Bridge. : Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound.

  • ARTIST:

  • MEDIUM: Stone engraving,

    DATE: c.1876.

  • EDITION SIZE: Card size 2 7/16 x 4" (6.1 x 10.1 cm).

  • DESCRIPTION: An advertisement trade card for Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, using the "The Great East River Suspension Bridge" imagery originally produced by Currier & Ives. <br><br> On the back of the card, the compound is advertised as "...a positive cure for all those painful complaints and weaknesses so common to our best female population. It will cure entirely the worst form of Female Complaints, all Ovarian troubles, Inflammation and Ulcerations, Falling and Displacements, and the consequent Spinal Weakness, and is particularly adapted to the Change of Life..." <br><br> Lydia Pinkham (1819-1883) was a rather well known name during her time, largely because of her medicinal business advertised on this card. It drew both praise and skepticism, which was common for medicine in those days. Many "cures" and "tonics" were little more than placebos sold by charlatans, or were in fact toxic for those who ingested them. Lydia Pinkham based much of her medicine of herbal knowledge, however, and by 1883 her Vegetable Compound was grossing nearly $300,000 a year.

  • ADDITIONAL INFO:

  • CONDITION: Good condition.

  • REFERENCE:

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