17
Sep
11

Alice Revisits Wonderland: A Story of Sozodont

Alice Revisits Wonderland: A Story of Sozodont after Lewis Carroll.

Copyrighted 1904, by Hall and Ruckel, London and New York.

Sozodont was the creation of an American druggist, Roswell van Buskirk in the 1850s, but the product was manufactured by Hall and Ruckel. The name derives from the Greek sozo meaning “to save” and dontia, “teeth”. It apparently did just the opposite: continued use of the powder made your teeth yellow and could even strip the enamel.

The company made strong use of advertising and by the late eighteen-hundreds was an established household name across the States and the UK. This little pamphlet uses the Alice story as a jumping off point, with a retelling of the trial scene. It features the Tweedles, the Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat. There are straight ads for several different preparations of Sozodont in the back of the pamphlet.

It’s a charming little thing- shame the product itself was so rubbish.

My copy came all the way from Australia via the entirely lovely and helpful Pioneer Books.

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