Stories
- Article
How slums make people sick
A newly gentrified corner of Bermondsey leaves little clue to its less salubrious history. But a few intrepid writers recorded the details of existence in one of London’s most squalid slums.
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The birth of the public museum
The first public museums evolved from wealthy collectors’ cabinets of curiosities and were quickly recognised as useful vehicles for culture.
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Two health centres, two ideologies
Two futuristic, light-filled buildings aimed to bring forward-looking healthcare to city dwellers. But the principles behind each were very different.
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The poor child’s nurse
Charming family scenes in Victorian ads for children’s medicines were at odds with some of the dangerous ingredients they contained.
Catalogue
- Pictures
- Online
A fashionable lady asking her doctor what ailments he can invent for her - so that she convince her husband to take her to Cannes. Reproduction of a drawing after B. Prance, 1927.
Prance, Bertram, 1889-Date: 1927Reference: 15478i- Pictures
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A patient alarmed at his doctor's request that he abstain from alcohol for a month. Reproduction of a drawing after F. Reynolds, 1925.
Reynolds, Frank, 1876-1953.Date: 1925Reference: 15445i- Pictures
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A patient asking her doctor his political leanings, he retorts that it varies - depending on who he is treating. Wood engraving after A.T. Smith.
Smith, Albert Talbot, 1877-Reference: 15665i- Pictures
A doctor taking the pulse of his patient - convinced that his prescription of a clyster has been successful - unaware that she has eaten the clyster-pipe. Coloured etching by G. Grinagain, 1804.
Grinagain, Giles, active 1804.Date: 2 January 1804Reference: 11831i- Pictures
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A bailiff (Mr Fixem, centre) calls on an affluent man (left) to enforce payment of a debt, assisted by his assistant (Bung, right). Etching by George Cruikshank.
Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878.Date: [1836]Reference: 32377i