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Prescription Envelopes Collection
Biomed.0603
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Collection of prescription envelopes
source:
Michael Laird Rare Books
Identifier/Call Number: Biomed.0603
Physical Description:
1 unknown
(148 envelopes)
Date (inclusive): circa 1840-1973
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Michael Laird Rare Books, 20 July 2017.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
8236548
[Identification of item], Collection of prescription envelopes (Collection 603). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History
and Special Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles.
"John K. Crellin notes that 'While the history of advertising medicines in Britain has attracted much interest, the prescription
envelope has rarely been noted. It has attracted interest as ephemera, for which see "The Chemist and his Stationery. The
Prescription Envelope, the Label and the Letterhead" in: Chemist and Druggist 159 (1953): 603-606 [unsigned, but presumably
by Arthur Wright, owner of a large collection of Prescription Envelopes]. The article notes that the envelope continued after
the advent of the National Health Service in 1948, albeit in smaller numbers for private prescriptions The article bemoans
the loss of "typographical or design interest" and that as "an 'art form' if they could be called that, prescription envelopes
maybe considered dead.' Source "The Humble Prescription Envelope in the British Medical/Pharmaceutical Marketplace" in: Pharmacy
in History, Vol. 49, No. 4 (2007), pp. 131-138. In 2002 the Wellcome Library exhibited: "The chemist's shop: advertising from
shops and advertising for shops from 1860-1945." For further references see also William Helfand's review of "Receptkuverter"
by Hans-Otto Loldrup in: Pharmacy in History, Vol. 40, No. 2/3 (1998), p. 116."
"Collection of 148 prescription envelopes (including some duplication), with each specimen preserved in a Mylar L-sleeve and
loosely inserted into a fitted case. Some of the earliest examples are a bit dusty and marked; overall in very good condition.
An intriguing and unusually large collection of vintage Prescription Envelopes, each measuring ca. 14 x 8 cm. A few examples
belong to the late 18th- and 19th-century, mostly are early 20th-century. While the majority are undated, four are dated 1913-1914,
a few from the 1930s and one very late example (dated 1973). The present specimens were issued by dispensing chemists from
all over the U.K., with two envelopes originating from France. The front of the envelope bears the name, address and often
the qualification of the chemist, with a line for the recipient, occasionally the name of the medication and a reference number
cross-checking with an entry in the chemist's prescription book, occasionally the price and for which ailment prescribed."
Source: Antiquarian bookseller's description, 2017.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Michael Laird Rare Books