The Historical Apothecary Compendium: A Guide to Terms and Symbols

This comprehensive, illustrated handbook is intended for collectors of apothecary bottles and other pharmaceutical and medical paraphernalia, covering artifacts likely to appear in North America and the United Kingdom from early Colonial times through approximately 1920. The book contains by far the largest compendium of terms used on apothecary bottles and other wares, comprising over 10,000 entries. Introductory materials provide instructions for use of the compendium, a concise history of apothecary containers and labels, and definitions and discussions of archaic terms for apothecary processes, weights and measures, therapeutic actions, and disease states. Appendices cover apothecary Latin, alchemy and alchemical symbols, astrological symbols, bottle manufacturers, and botanical terms. Illustrations are provided for various types of bottles and containers, apothecary devices, and for nearly 300 botanical species.