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Alexander Medicine Co (1 results)
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Original Trade Card - "Alexander's Tonic Pills; Alexander Medicine Co., 14th St. and 6th Ave., N. Y."
Published by Donaldson Brothers, New York, 1888
No Binding. Condition: Collectible-Fine. Original trade card featuring color illustrations of two young girls holding a fan and apple in a bright, jubilant scene filled with flowers. The back includes a couple half-tone illustrations of pastoral, domestic scenes with people. 3" x 4 1/2." Printer's information on back: "Donaldson Brothers, N.Y." Trade card is very clean and intact except for a small bump in the upper-left corner and slight wear along the crease where the card can be folded. A Fine copy. Trade card promoting Alexander's Tonic Pills, a patent medicine manufactured by the Alexander Medicine Company. The description on back claims the pills cure "loss of appetite, leanness, nervousness, impoverished and impure blood, scrofula, constipation, indigestion, dyspepsia, biliousness, malaria," and a host of other ailments. Also advertised are Alexander's Ointment, Cholera Infatum Cure, Cholera Morbus Cure, and Ointment for Hemorrhoids, The Donaldson Brothers were a prominent lithography and printing company that was in business from 1872-1891. In 1891, Donaldson Bros. were bought out by the American Lithographic Company. Trade cards were antique business cards that first became popular during the late seventeenth century in Paris and Lyon, France and London, England. Trade cards were often given by business owners and proprietors to patrons and customers as a way to promote their businesses. Prior to the use of street addresses, trade cards had maps so clients could locate the associated business. Many of these cards also incorporated elaborate designs, illustrations, and other decorative features. Trade cards became popular in the United States during the nineteenth century in the period after the Civil War. The late nineteenth century also saw the advent of trade card collecting as a hobby. While they are no longer in use, trade cards influenced the formation of trading cards and were the predecessors of modern-day business cards.
