The Medical Trade Catalogue in Britain, 1870–1914 by Claire L. Jones (review)

Although increasing attention has been paid in recent years to the retailing and consumption of medicines and medical instruments across time, the nature of the relationship between medical professionals and medical companies has remained obscure. In particular, the effects on medical advertising of factors such as demand-led innovation and the bureaucratization and regulation of medicine have, until now, remained unclear. Likewise, little attention has focused on medical advertising to the medical profession, rather than to the public, and on the often-delicate ethical issues this could engender. Claire Jones’s excellent new study of medical trade catalogues is therefore both important and timely in exploring the important role of nineteenth-century medical practitioners as both consumers of medical products and agents in the development of instruments of their trade. As Jones argues, medical trade companies and practitioners developed a mutually beneficial relationship, one that balanced the ethical considerations of the profession in not engaging in overt commercial marketing or endorsement in the public domain. As this occurred, medical catalogues became proxy reference texts—a means through which medical knowledge could be disseminated, but also statements of the “professional” nature of medicine.

The book is split into six thematic chapters, each exploring a different aspect of catalogue construction and consumption. Chapter 1 charts the origins and rise of the medical trade catalogue in context of the changing nature of supply, but also discusses the huge rise in practitioner numbers and importance of the institution, creating new opportunities for medical companies. Jones makes a compelling case for the trade catalogue to be understood not only as an information technology in itself, but also as a “discernible tool of business” (p. 31).

Chapter 2 explores the “physicality” of the catalogue and the variety of different practitioner types to whom medical companies catered. Indeed, the sheer variety illustrates the problems in assuming homogeneity, or speaking of medical catalogues as a uniform group. Medical catalogues differed from pharmaceutical catalogues in form, structure, and audience. The sheer scale of some catalogues (more than 2000 pages, in some cases) highlights the paradox of an occupational group that actively sought to bypass connections with a “trade,” yet relied on extensive trade literature. As Jones highlights, the use of “scientific” language in catalogues was a conscious means to ally medical retail with medical reference and, in many ways, legitimize the profession.

This last point is developed further in the third chapter, which explores the rhetoric of advertising in more detail, but also directly challenges the progress narrative. As is shown, new innovations, from anaesthesia to antisepsis, were promoted using a variety of tropes, from novelty to utility to safety. Interestingly, however, although new instruments were clearly in the foreground of medical trade catalogues, they coexisted with older instruments, suggesting that innovations were not necessarily readily adopted. Indeed, as is shown, many practitioners continued to rely on trusted older designs long after new models became available.

The mechanics of catalogue production are dealt with in Chapter 4, which highlights the conscious attempts made by medical companies to align their catalogues with medical reference literature. Jones raises the important issue of the close relationship between production and readership—a point that chimes with recent discussions about the semiotics of early modern remedy books. To avoid connections with other forms of advertising, catalogues closely resembled medical reference texts, with similar plain bindings and decorations. Catalogues were costly to produce and were highly illustrated, requiring continual updating to reflect new products and designs. Illustrations formed part of the intended didactic function of catalogues, and evidence presented suggests that this was a key consideration for practitioners. Jones’s discussion about the soliciting and use of testimonials highlights the careful negotiation needed to avoid professional censure.

The question of the distribution of medical catalogues is dealt with in Chapter 5, which details the various means used by medical trade companies to create customer bases and disseminate their...