Peacay at BibliOdyssey has posted a fascinating collection of nineteenth-century advertising "trade cards." The ones above are by Charlotte Perkins Gilman of "Yellow Wallpaper" fame. Peacay writes:
The pair of Tub Soap girls and the Soapine carriage advertisement {~1880} are of particular interest because the artist/lithographer was Charlotte Perkins Gilman (niece of Harriet Beecher Stowe) who would later become a notable writer/social reformer and feminist. Her 1892 short story 'The Yellow Wallpaper' was a first hand account of post-partum depression and suffering at the hands of (learned) quackery. The great medical minds of the day recommended isolation from family, near-total bed rest, restriction of intellectual activity and occasional application of electricity to the muscles.
Having lived through my wife's post partum (twice), I think the medical advice of the time was excellent...from my point of view anyway.
Posted by: iamnot | September 18, 2007 at 11:32 AM
The rest part sounds excellent, but added to that, they forbid her to read or write, which only depressed her further.
Posted by: Melissa | September 19, 2007 at 08:02 AM
Nowadays, you pay a lot for that electrical stimulation., They call it physical therapy.
Posted by: miriam | September 19, 2007 at 08:05 AM