A Treatise on Swaim's Panacea (frontispiece: Nancy Linton, before and after, Philadelphia, 1828 edition)
period print · 1828
LINK
SUMMARY
Wellcome Collection archival record for the frontispiece of William Swaim's 1828 treatise (work bst63dyx, Public Domain Mark; image b21157546_0004, viewed directly). A caption above the engraving describes it, in the book's own words, as one of the most extraordinary cures on record; a caption below names the sitter as Nancy Linton and describes the image as her representation alongside her actual appearance after being cured by the Panacea, and directs the reader to the case narrative later in the book. The engraving depicts a seated woman with a visibly disfigured face and emaciated, misshapen legs propped on a footstool, one hand resting on a small table bearing a labelled bottle of the Panacea. Identification basis: the subject is named by the archive-held source itself (the book's own printed caption), satisfying the source-title identification rule; no claim beyond what that caption states is made about her. Source for this case's account of Swaim's testimonial marketing and for the case's lead artifact media.
NOTES
This Wellcome Collection record is the archival source for the frontispiece of William Swaim’s 1828 treatise: an engraved before-and-after testimonial identifying, in the book’s own printed caption, a patient named Nancy Linton, shown with a disfigured face and wasted legs alongside a bottle of the Panacea, over text describing her as one of the most extraordinary cures on record. The identification of the sitter as Nancy Linton comes directly from the source’s own caption. The work carries a Public Domain Mark.