Book Description

"This catalog accompanies an exhibition on medical quackery, tracing its prevalence from the itinerant seller of nostrums four centuries ago to unsolicited spam on the Internet today. Prints by William Hogarth, Honore Daumier and others highlight the theatrics of the quack at work; posters by Jules Cheret, Maxfield Parrish and their contemporaries illustrate the remarkable artistry with which proprietary medicines were once advertised; and works by H.G. Wells, Weir Mitchell and other writers offer a delightful look at the elaborate language once used to promote the quack's wares." "The quack doctor's lavish pronouncements and excessive postures were matched only by similarly exalted promises of therapeutic cure. Quacks dressed elaborately, inflated their credentials, and embraced a particularly extravagant vocabulary to market their panaceas, at times claiming their pills and salves would cure all disease. Some wryly observed that the quacks' nomadic nature was necessary to enable them to avoid the inevitable reprisals of dissatisfied customers. They were later succeeded by the makers of proprietary medicines, many of whom adopted quackery's promotional methods while, at the same time, introducing new ones of their own. These vendors advertised widely (often with celebrity testimonials), publishing broadsides, posters, pamphlets and manifestoes to further amplify the popular reach of their product claims. Until the mid-nineteenth century, both physicians and quacks relied upon certain standard agents - including opium, quinine and antimony (which worked) and a great many others (which did not)."--BOOK JACKET.