Unidentified photographer / artist
1917 (ca)
Bauer and Black merchandise catalogue (example page)

Silver print
7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in (19 x 24.1 cm)
 
Swann Galleries - New York
Courtesy of Swann Galleries (Auction, Feb 7, 2008, #2135, Lot 54)
 
Bauer and Black merchandise catalogue with more than 140 photographs of B & B products, including athletic supporters, dental floss, first aid kits, aseptic bandages, and a range of plasters -- adhesive, belladonna, blister, calipta, cough, eclectic, kidney, mustard, menthol, porous, pleurisy and toothache -- as well as other medical aids and packaging. Silver prints, 7 1/2x9 1/2 inches (19x24.1 cm.), or the reverse, each is mounted to linen. Oblong 4to, gilt-lettered leatherette.
 
The medical firm of Bauer and Black, with factories in New York and Chicago, manufactured more than 250,000 first aid products a day--equivalent to 75,000,000 a year in the World War I period. The album opens with photographs of the company''s headquarters in New York City and Chicago. The pictures that follow depict a variety of products--some familiar and some distinctly outdated--in stylized packaging. Most of the prints show boxes of plasters artfully arranged against a white background; there are also a few images of window displays or print advertisements.
 
B & B''s once multitidinous roster of plasters have since been phased out and replaced by support hose and ankle braces. Contemporary ailments, such as carpal tunnel syndrome or tennis elbow, are helped by their wrist and elbow braces.
 
LL/27098