Explore "The Humbugs of the World" by P.T. Barnum on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Brandreth's pills -- Magnificent advertising -- Power of imagination.
In the year 1834, Dr. Benjamin Brandreth commenced advertising in the city of New York, "Brandreth's Pills specially recommended to purify the blood. " His office consisted of a room about ten feet square, located in what was then known as the Sun building, an edifice ten by forty feet, situated at the corner of Spruce and Nassau Streets, where the Tribune is now published. His "factory" was at his residence in Hudson Street. He put up a large gilt sign over the Sun office, five or six feet wide by the length of the building, which attracted much attention, as at that time it was probably the largest sign in New York. Dr. Brandreth had great faith in his pills, and I believe not without reason; for multitudes of persons soon became convinced of the truth of his assertions, that "all diseases arise from impurity or imperfect circulation of the blood, and by purgation with Brandreth's Pills all disease may be cured."