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Pharmacy labels by Fr. Melsbach, Sobernheim

Photo(s) by altpapiersammler. Imported from Flickr on Feb 23, 2020. Artwork published in
circa 1905
.
Kräuter-Elixier (“herbal elixir”). The center-aligned typography shows three sizes of Eckmann-Schrift (1900). The long s (ſ) appears only in the sch trigraph (“verschiedener”, “geschätztes”). Contrary to the traditional rules, it’s not used for “wirksamen” or “Bestandteile”.
Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by altpapiersammler and tagged with “eckmann”. License: All Rights Reserved.

Kräuter-Elixier (“herbal elixir”). The center-aligned typography shows three sizes of Eckmann-Schrift (1900). The long s (ſ) appears only in the sch trigraph (“verschiedener”, “geschätztes”). Contrary to the traditional rules, it’s not used for “wirksamen” or “Bestandteile”.

Labels for the use in pharmacies and drugstores, printed by Fr. Melsbach, Sobernheim. Established in 1832, the Melsbach company is still in the business of pharmacy supplies. Several labels found in a Melsbach album from 1886 are reproduced in the October 1966 issue of Gebrauchsgraphik and show predominantly lettering. The labels featured in this post were made about twenty years later, around 1905, and are typographic, i.e. they were made with the use of fonts.

See more pharmaceutic labels in altpapiersammler’s album on Flickr.

Lenilaxin uses a typeface that was sold by many foundries under various names, incl.  (Theinhardt), Phönix (Poppelbaum), and Medea (Flinsch; later continued by Bauer). The smaller text is in one of the light cuts added by German foundries to their  adaptations, see . The price is in  (1904).
Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by altpapiersammler and tagged with “phoenix”. License: All Rights Reserved.

Lenilaxin uses a typeface that was sold by many foundries under various names, incl. Viktoria (Theinhardt), Phönix (Poppelbaum), and Medea (Flinsch; later continued by Bauer). The smaller text is in one of the light cuts added by German foundries to their Bradley adaptations, see Original-Altgotisch. The price is in Korinna (1904).

Peru-Kognak is set in Nelson, the German name for  (1895) The roman is Schelter & Giesecke’s Romanisch (1889).
Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by altpapiersammler and tagged with “cosmopolitan”. License: All Rights Reserved.

Peru-Kognak is set in Nelson, the German name for Cosmopolitan (1895) The roman is Schelter & Giesecke’s Romanisch (1889).

The label for Thymian-Keuchhusten-Saft (“Thyme syrup for whooping cough”) pairs  with  and a condensed grotesk.
Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by altpapiersammler and tagged with “eckmannschrift” and “originalaltgotisch”. License: All Rights Reserved.

The label for Thymian-Keuchhusten-Saft (“Thyme syrup for whooping cough”) pairs Eckmann with Original-Altgotisch and a condensed grotesk.

Frangula-Elixier ft. more  for the name. The text is set in two weights of Berthold’s . The price info uses .
Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by altpapiersammler and tagged with “eckmann”. License: All Rights Reserved.

Frangula-Elixier ft. more Eckmann for the name. The text is set in two weights of Berthold’s Secession. The price info uses Korinna.

Keuchhusten-Elixier ft.  halbfett (1909). “Gebrauchs-Anweisung” is in a condensed grotesk. The instructions are set in Tauchnitz-Antiqua, a stylistic variant of . distinguished by different forms for ‘dkvwxyAKMRUVWX’ (and probably also ‘Y’), in most cases replacing curved diagonals with straight ones.
Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by altpapiersammler and tagged with “liane” and “schelterantiqua”. License: All Rights Reserved.

Keuchhusten-Elixier ft. Liane halbfett (1909). “Gebrauchs-Anweisung” is in a condensed grotesk. The instructions are set in Tauchnitz-Antiqua, a stylistic variant of Schelter-Antiqua. distinguished by different forms for ‘dkvwxyAKMRUVWX’ (and probably also ‘Y’), in most cases replacing curved diagonals with straight ones.

Lenilaxin combines  with two grotesks. All type is reproduced in negative.
Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by altpapiersammler and tagged with “schelterantiqua”. License: All Rights Reserved.

Lenilaxin combines Schelter-Antiqua with two grotesks. All type is reproduced in negative.

1 Comment on “Pharmacy labels by Fr. Melsbach, Sobernheim

  1. If I ever need to go to a pharmacy, this is it.

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