Life, 1887-06-02 · page 18 of 18
Life — June 2, 1887 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising**, not satire or political commentary. It features three product advertisements: 1. **Pidge's Food** (left): A patent medicine ad claiming superiority for infants and invalids, sold in four sizes. The ornate Victorian design uses a profile illustration typical of health-product marketing of the era. 2. **Vita Nuova** (center-right): Harriet Hubbard Ayer's tonic claimed to cure nervousness, mental disorders, hysteria, malaria, and digestive issues—typical exaggerated health claims of 1880s tonics. It promises to restore vigor for "overworked merchants, bankers, lawyers, physicians." 3. **Lundborg's Edenia Cologne** (bottom): A perfume advertisement featuring a humorous domestic scene where a woman references the product's popularity. These represent the era's unregulated patent medicine market, where manufacturers made sweeping therapeutic claims without scientific evidence—a practice eventually curbed by the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NUOVA 1 the pr ALL DRUGGISTS, FANCY GROCERS, BY THE PROPRIETOR AT RETA AT WHOLESALE AT 27 UNION SQUARE, 39 & 41 PARK PLACE, NEW YORK CITY. HARRIET HUBBARD AYER. 1is London LUNDBORG’S “EDENIA LUNDBORG’S RHENISH COLOGNE. | LUNDBOR IRFUMES AND RHENISH COLOGNE in-your viotity YOUNG, LADD & COFFIN, 24. Barclay Street, New York. a Babar 4 3i-g3 Weer TWeNty-THRD 5) Ne ee So — comicbooks.com