What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?
“All sorts of Chymical and Galenical Medicines (truly prepared).”
When Townsend Speakman opened an apothecary shop on Market Street in Philadelphia in the early 1770s, he took to the pages of the Pennsylvania Chronicle to offer his services. In an advertisement in the January 20, 1772, edition, he introduced himself as a “Chymist and Druggist, LATE FROM LONDON.” Like many others who migrated across the Atlantic, he asserted his credentials as a means of establishing his reputation among prospective clients. Speakman declared that he “served a regular apprenticeship to the business.” In addition, he “had several years further experience therein, in a house of the first reputation in LONDON.”
That accrued additional benefits for his prospective clients beyond the expertise and experience the “Chymist and Druggist” gained during his apprenticeship and subsequent employment. His connections to an apothecary shop “of the first reputation” meant that he could “procur[e] articles of the best quality” for the “most reasonable rates” for his customers. He vowed to pass along the savings, promising to “sell on as low terms as any in this city.” Speakman also emphasized quality elsewhere in his advertisement. He assured readers that he sold “all sorts of Chymical and Galenical Medicines (truly prepared).” That phrase suggested both his skill in compounding medications and the authenticity of the ingredients he used. To underscore the point, Speakman pledged that “Family receipts [or remedies], and physical prescriptions, are carefully and correctly compounded.” Furthermore, he carried “the best of Drugs [and] Patent Medicines.”
As a newcomer unknown to the prospective clients that he wished to engage, Speakman sought to convince readers that he merited their trust in preparing and providing medicines. He emphasized both his formal training through an apprenticeship as well as his additional experience working in an apothecary shop “of the first reputation” in London. He brought his expertise to Philadelphia, vowing to supply clients with “truly prepared” medicines of the best quality. The apothecary achieved success in the Quaker City. In the late 1780s, he supplemented his newspaper advertisements with an engraved billhead for writing receipts for customers.
