Finding Aid for the Collection of Prescription Envelopes Biomed.0603

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.

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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.

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