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Stories

  • Article

Doctors and the English seaside

Fashionable seaside towns in England owe much of their popularity to 18th-century doctors, who advised them to take the 'sea cure'.

  • Long read

Rehab centres and the ‘cure’ for addiction

Guy Stagg takes us on a brief history of rehab centres and their approaches to addiction and recovery.

  • Article

When monarchs healed the sick

Our current Queen fortunately doesn’t have to spend hours laying hands on the sick to cure them. But it was a different story for monarchs of the early modern era, whose touch was a sought-after treatment for scrofula.

  • Article

Our endless quest for eternal youth

From poisonous 16th-century cosmetics to the latest “vampire facelift”, discover the fashions in unsavoury methods for improving our appearance.

All stories (5)

Images

  • Buxton, Derbyshire: the Crescent. Aquatint.
  • Bagnigge Wells: the exterior, after a print made in 1780. Wood engraving by [W.H.P.].
  • Bath, Somerset: bathers and onlookers in the courtyard containing the royal baths and great pump room, with a statue of King Bladud, founder of the baths. Engraving by W. Elliott after T. Robins.
  • Bagnigge Wells: the exterior, with heaps of wood and stone in the foreground. Etching by C. J. Smith, 1844.
  • Bagnigge Wells, London: two alluring, fashionably-dressed women, one plucking rosebuds. Mezzotint, 1780.
  • St Pancras Wells, King's Cross, London: aerial view showing the "trap ball" ground, with men playing, St Pancras Church in the background. Etching.
  • Sadler's Wells, with the New River running beside. Etching by F. W. Pailthorpe after R. C. Andrews, 1792.
  • Bagnigge Wells, London: a family group, the Dumplings, on a day out. Mezzotint.
  • Sadler's Wells Theatre, with the New River running beside, a smaller view, below, of the older building. Engraving by W. Wise, 1814, after R. C. Andrews, 1792.
  • St Pancras Wells, King's Cross, London: view showing St Pancras church, and the Wells in the background. Engraving by J. Roberts after J.B.C. Chatelain.
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Catalogue

All works (11)