The Bottle Book

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 320 pages
• Published by: The Blackburn Press May 1, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1932846158
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1932846157
• Book Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.2 x 0.8 inches
• Weighs: 1.7 pounds

Product Description
Originally printed in 1987, The Bottle Book is designed for the cultural historian, the bottle collector, and those just interested in pharmacopoeia. This book is a guide to the identification of the embossed, patent and proprietary medicine bottles produced in an era of American history when anything could be bottled, advertised and sold – legally. A cornucopia of cures, bitters, tonics, and balms, many of them little more and slightly disguised alcohol, were available to the gullible but willing public. Not only are the embossed and shapely bottles of this era highly collectable today, they are also valuable to archaeologists who interpret and date historical sites. This book has been designed as a reference book. It provided detailed descriptions to aid the researcher in identifying and evaluating whole or fragmented vessels. A discussion of the patent and proprietary medicine years, and the innovations applied to the production of glass, is followed by a brief interpretation of bottles by color, design and shape. Over forty chapters detail nearly four thousand medicine bottles. Numerous line drawings, and color photographs will aid the researcher/collector/anthropologist in the identification process.

About The Author
Richard Fike, is a retired Bureau of Land Management Archaeologist. Rich is also an historian, writer, teacher and the developer of the Museum of the Mountain West in Montrose, Colorado. He continues to expand the Museum, which contains original and recreated historic buildings that house extensive collections of America's past. He has combined his professional knowledge and his personal interest in historic bottles to provide this authoritative, definitive, and entertaining guide.

Reader Reviews
"The Bottle Book: A Comprehensive Guide to Historic, Embossed Medicine Bottles" could have been the ultimate word on American patent medicine bottles. First, it includes a huge amount of information on the companies that produced the bottles, which were made largely in the late 19th century and continuing somewhat into the 20th century. Second, it quotes the embossed bottles themselves, usually in entirety. Third, it even provides dates for when different versions of the bottles came out. Unfortunately this book contains few color images, and only a minority of the bottles are depicted in the black and white line drawings, so the door is wide open for either another edition of this work or for another author to step forward with the "ultimate" patent medicine bottle book. Also, the subtitle should be carefully noted, as this book is strictly about medicine bottles, and does not cover ALL bottles.