The Museum Collection: Prescription books
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The Christopher chemist shop
Bradford on Avon Museum, Wiltshire
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The Museum possesses a complete run of prescription books for its chemist shop, from the day it opened in 1863 until the day it closed in 1986.
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Click on the thumbnail pictures to see a bigger view
The chemist made an entry for each prescription for medicine that was given to a customer, frequently written in latin -even the date. Often this was a handy reference for repeat prescriptions.
The books are interesting in giving the names of the people who came to the shop and for the prevalence of diseases that were being treated. The influenza pandemic -‘Spanish flu’- shows up in the entries.
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