Herb Lore
Oakland, California: 1936. Fifth Edition. 9.5 x 6.25", beige wrappers with gold lettering, 188, [2] pp, illustrations from photographs. A promotional booklet advertising Chinese herbal remedies sold by the Fong Wan Herb Co of Brooklyn. The company was established by Fong Wan, a Chinese-American entrepreneur and herbalist who arrived in California in 1910 aged 17, founding the company three years later. The text differs in significant ways from the third edition offered in this catalog, including the addition of two chapters in response to fraud investigations into the company that resulted in a 1932 trial--one of these chapters touts the company's "unparalleled success" in combating these attacks on its honesty by its enemies, and another chapter reprints entrapment letters "sent to Fong Wan by the postal service under assumed names." The book also prints advertisements at the end for a Chinese restaurant and a shrimp company that Fong Wan, a Bay Area entrepreneur, also owned. Damp staining to pages, staining and foxing to covers, owner inscription to title page, good. Item #14333
Price: $250.00