Massive Skowhegan, Maine Druggist's Prescriptions Ledger, 1890s, Fuller than Full

Regular price $200.00

The hand-marbled cover, together with great bulk, of this antique ledger sold me on it before I even opened it. Then I did, to find hundreds of pages completely covered--truly no spare inch--with pasted in apothecary prescriptions, spanning the period 1892-1897 from what I have discerned. The majority of them, and the paper label adhered to the cover, are from George Cushing's Drug Store in Skowhegan Maine, not very far from where I found it, but there are also prescriptions from other doctors and druggists, I presume brought to Cushing's (located "opposite the New Post Office") to fill. One could dig into this and learn a whole lot about treatments of the time, with prescriptions spanning from a simple daily teaspoon of "Peter's Peptic Essence" to recipes for various powders, ointments, and elixirs. For me though it is equally satisfying as an aesthetic object--each spread a dense sort of collage, with the combination of variously colored and toned bits of paper, printed labels, and handwritten texts, adding up one very painterly composition after another. And and s a holistically resonant one: together, a whole community of people, maladies, and attempts at relief! 

15 1/8 x 10 1/2 x 2 1/8" thick and in good antique condition. Sound and pretty sturdy, holding together very well. A bit of shedding to the leather of the spine, and toning for sure, as there would be. Every label very well adhered to the page, with nothing loose. Completely full all the way through until the very last couple of pages.