"Persons That Live Remote from London": Apothecaries and the Medical Marketplace in Seventeenth-and Eighteenth-Century Wales

Abstract

This article uses evidence from Welsh apothecary shops as a means to access the mechanisms of the "medical marketplace" in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Wales. As a country physically remote from large urban medical centers, and with few large towns, Wales has often been overlooked in terms of medical commerce. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that Welsh apothecaries participated in broad and sophisticated networks of trade with London suppliers. Moreover, their shops contained a wide range of medicines from herbal simples to exotic ingredients and chemical preparations, highlighting the availability of such goods far from large urban centers.