LETTERS
to the Editor
Tributes for Mark Vuono Continue
Humorous Advertisements
Hostetter’s Advertisement 2:
Hi, John,
Dear John,
Bob Strickhart’s wonderful article “Dr. Langley’s Root and Herb Bitters” (from the February 2020 issue of AB&GC) quoted several humorous advertisements for Dr. Langley’s Root and Herb Bitters. That reminded me of some of the humorous (intentional or not) advertisements that I ran across in the course of researching my collection of colored pontiled medicines.
“The principal offenders are irresponsible, unprincipled, retail liquor sellers, and their mode of operation is this: They buy a few bottles of the genuine Hostetter’s Stomach Bitters, sell the contents, replace them with poisonous alcohol, and then retail that as the real article. The customers who ask them for the elixir vitae, they serve with a potion thick with the elements of disease and death. Such a mode of ‘turning a penny’ is worthy of the arch fiend himself.”
It is with great sadness that I learned of the death of Mark Vuono. I did not know Mark well, but I knew him well enough to recognize the many attributes so well described by his friends and fellow collectors in the April issue of AB&GC. I considered sharing my own interactions with Mark and the flasks in my collection that I associate with him, but they felt meager in comparison. It seemed that everything that could be said had been. But as I reread each touching tribute, I realized that there was one word that I felt needed to be included, and that word is “inspiration.” Mark Vuono was not only an inspiration as a collector and human encyclopedia of historical flasks, he was an inspiration in how he lived his life and chose to relate to other people, no matter who they were. As someone recently given the opportunity to take stock in my own life, I recognize the many traits that Mark possessed that can be aspired to: the unassuming kindness, the unnecessary generosity, the unselfish warmth and the uncommon humility, to name but a few. So, I write to suggest that, with a little self-reflection, we might all find even a small way to be a little more like Mark Vuono in our everyday interactions. I can’t think of a better way to honor his memory. Thank you John, Ralph and everyone else for sharing your moving tributes. Mark Hoeltzel Ann Arbor, Michigan
2
Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
Appearing below are three chuckleinducing (at least, to me!) excerpts from 1860s-era advertisements for Hostetter’s Stomach Bitters. If you think they would be of interest to your readers, feel free to include any or all of them in a future Letters to the Editor. I really do love the way people wrote “back in the day.” Regards, Chris Bubash Dayton, Ohio P.S. Attached, as a bonus, is a notice I discovered next to a Hostetter’s advertisement, concerning some salacious activities that occurred on the South Lawn of the White House back in 1863. Enjoy!
Hostetter’s Advertisement 3: “Imitations and counterfeits of Hostetter’s Celebrated Stomach Bitters, the great remedy for dyspepsia, have been put into the market. Beware of them. Taste them not. There is death in the cup! But the most difficult fraud to guard against, is one practiced by unprincipled ‘publicans’, who fill the genuine bottles of the firm with their own deleterious fire-water, which they retail as Hostetter’s Stomach Bitters. The penalties of the law will be invoked on these cheats.”
Hostetter’s Advertisement 1: “Success is the ‘prevalent cradle’ of innumerable humbugs. No sooner had Hostetter’s Stomach Bitters made their mark in the world, than up sprung a host of imitations, and as the fame of the great restorative grew and spread, the pestiferous crop of poisonous mockeries thickened. But the true medicine has lived them down. When the bellows of puffery which kept alive the feeble fire of their borrowed reputation ceased to blow, they ceased to live, and thus they continue to come and go.”
Bonus notice from Chris Bubash, with complete text shown below.
From The Evening Star (9/2/1863): Improper Conduct. — Yesterday afternoon, Officer Bruil found a male and female couple using the grounds south of the President's House as a sort of free love establishment, and went after them. The man skedaddled, but the woman, who gave her name as Frances Smith, from Virginia, was arrested, and Justice Drury sent her to the workhouse.
