JOHN WYETH SIGNED LETTER. John Wyeth & Brother imprinted business letterhead. 1885, 19 1/2" x 8" typed letter to the president of the Sterling Iron Railway Co regarding payment of bonds. Signed in ink by John Wyeth. Overall good condition, four spindle binding holes left side, a few numerical notations below signature, and original fold line. (Jb. 702); $75.
The Wyeth legacy began in the early 1860s when John and his brother, Frank, opened a small drugstore under the name John Wyeth & Brother at 1410 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their firm transformed the way drugstores operated. Later known as Wyeth Laboratories, it became the first to "advance manufacture" frequently prescribed medicines in bulk. Also, in 1864 the John Wyeth & Brother catalog of elixirs and tonics was published, the first catalog of its kind. From these beginnings came a succession of pharmaceutical innovations, including the development of the “compressed pill,” or tablet, and the first rotary tablet press, invented by Wyeth in 1872.