New York: D.B. Dewey, 1882 or 1883. 16mo. 34 pp. (some illustrations in the text). Original wrappers printed in red and black with old string loop at the top corner -- apparently as issued (worn, with short tear along the fold; back wrapper chipped with loss of text on the opposite side; slight staining). Very good. Item #4601

UNCHARACTERISTICALLY APPEALING COVER ILLUSTRATIONS WHICH IMMEDIATELY (AND SUCCESSFULLY) ATTRACTED OUR ATTENTION TO THIS PARTICULAR QUACK MEDICINE PROMOTIONAL PAMPHLET; NO DOUBT CERTAIN 19TH-CENTURY READERS FOUND IT SIMILARLY APPEALING.

Throughout the pamphlet are references to one "Wei de Meyer" and his "Catarrh Cure." We have been unable to locate an individual with this (very distinctive) name elsewhere, and it seems unlikely that he ever existed.

The pamphlet includes a calendar for 1883 and recipes alternating with advertisements and testimonials, including one from P.T. Barnum, and of course there is a broad range of curative claims (some ridiculous). It is described in OCLC as a "Booklet of cookery hints and recipes primarily advertising Castoria, invented by Dr. Samuel Pitcher, containing senna, pumpkin seed, mint, aniseed, oil of wormwood, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and wintergreen, but 'no mineral, morphine or other narcotic property.' It helped the digestion, cured constipation, colic, flatulency, diarrhoea, worms, convulsions and fevers. Also Centaur Liniment, which cured rheumatism, sciatica, neuralgia, lumbago, tic douloureux, mumps, burns, sore nipples, boils, bites, scurvy, nervous headache, opium dizziness (p.17) and sprains and Wei de Meyer's Catarrh Cure." NB: Catarrh is a clinical term for what is more commonly known as "postnasal drip" (!)

We have seen another example of this pamphlet to which has been fashioned a loop of string at the top corner -- as here -- no doubt by the publisher to provide "easy reference."

Price: $100.00