Vernors Ginger Ale 150th B-Day

[SODABOB]

P.S.

After studying the images more closely, the word on the left appears to be ...

PRESCRIPTIONS

 

[hemihampton]

SO, Whats on the sign under Selected Materials? I see the Word BY. Whats next under the BY? Comepetant? LEON.

 

[SODABOB]

I messed around with this for over an hour and still not happy with all of the fonts, but its the best I can do as a final draft ...

View attachment 175423

Here's the link where I found it on eBay. Scroll to the bottom of the seller's page and click on the picture for the (mouse micro-zoom) I bought a copy of the reprint for $19.00. (The seller has more copies available)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190818700165?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

View attachment 175424

I'm confident that my imagery/draft is 99.99% accurate!

 

[VernorsGuy]

P.S.

After studying the images more closely, the word on the left appears to be ...

PRESCRIPTIONS

That looks like an accurate interpretation. Too bad! Was hoping for "Vernor's Floats 10 cents!"

 

[VernorsGuy]

I have some fun photos for you. None of them will help us with the dating question. But, you'll love these photos.

Photo 67: Recipes for cologne. Note the handwriting. This is James Vernor I. No dates.
Photo 52: Ginger Ale Syrup - Different handwriting. James Vernor II.
Photo 53: Ginger Ale Syrup written by James Vernor I.
Photo 49: More James Vernor I ginger ale syrup.
Photo 43: Interior of Detroit Public Library.
Photo 31: Photo of a young James Vernor - similar to era to store front photo.

 

[SODABOB]

Keith

Fantastic book (and pictures of it).

I can imagine you excitement being able to "turn the pages of time." Do any of the notations, such as the Rx, indicate if the product was exclusive to and/or patented by James Vernor?

I came across the following regarding the James Vernor collection at the Detroit Public Library ...

[FONT=&amp]5.5 linear ft. : (11 boxes, 1 large manuscript)
[/FONT][FONT=&amp]
This collection is open for research use.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Papers include family letters, biographical information and letter of James Vernor to his brother, Charles in Detroit during the Civil War.



Have you been able to go through all 11 boxes?


[/FONT]

 

[VernorsGuy]

Keith

Fantastic book (and pictures of it).

I can imagine you excitement being able to "turn the pages of time." Do any of the notations, such as the Rx, indicate if the product was exclusive to and/or patented by James Vernor?

I came across the following regarding the James Vernor collection at the Detroit Public Library ...

[FONT=&amp]5.5 linear ft. : (11 boxes, 1 large manuscript)
[/FONT][FONT=&amp]
This collection is open for research use.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Papers include family letters, biographical information and letter of James Vernor to his brother, Charles in Detroit during the Civil War.



Have you been able to go through all 11 boxes?


[/FONT]

Over the years I've been through those boxes. This past week, it was just one of the boxes. They aren't readily available to the public. You have to check them out and then you can only look through one envelope at a time from each box. So, it's a time consuming process. Most of what I looked through this last week was from the estate of James Vernor I granddaughter. There were some very old family photos in there.

 

[VernorsGuy]

Regarding the question about Rx meaning exclusive or patented by James Vernor, I'm not sure. What I did see in the recipe book were recipes attributed to other people. There were several that named doctors by name such as "Dr. Smith's cough syrup" or something like that. So, if not a patent, there seems to have been some honor in the profession toward those who came up with winning formulas.

There were other recipes that had people's names attached. I figured those were special formulas made for a specific customer.

 

[SODABOB]

Note: I acknowledge having said earlier that I was dropping out of the discussion involving the 1866 vs 1880 debate as to when James Vernor first developed and began selling his ginger ale. But do to recent developments surrounding the 1919 article I feel it would be a contradiction on my part to have come so far and not point out what I feel are some noteworthy aspects of the article. Especially when you take into account that the 1919 article could very well be where a lot of the controversy originated from. To the best of my knowledge, the 1919 article is it first so called history ever published about the Vernor legacy.

Speaking of which ...

The following is found on the last page and last paragraph of the article. Notice where it says ...

"later buying the latter's interest and continuing until he embarked in the ginger ale business."

Isn't that another way of saying ...

James Vernor and Charles L'Hommedieu dissolved their partnership in 1868. Vernor then continued to operate the drug store on his own for several years until he developed and began selling his celebrated ginger ale.

 

[SODABOB]

Of course, that still doesn't explain James Vernor's use of the 1868 and 1870 dates! I think what it boils down to is, which parts of the 1919 article are accurate and which parts might be myth? In other words, do you believe the father or the son? Or is it possible the reporter made some errors, typos, misquotes?