Warner’s Safe Cure: A Younger Warner?

 

 

Almost invariably, if you see a picture of H. H. Warner, it is a copy of an engraving that depicts him with an elder statesman visage. It is the engraving that I use on this blog showing Warner slightly graying, perhaps in his fifties. It looks like this

When Warner was elected as the President of the Chamber of Commerce in 1887, an engraving of him and other officers of the Chamber were included in the book, The Industries of the City of Rochester along with the text of Warner’s inaugeral address. That engraving is the first one in this post. Clearly, it is an earlier engraving showing a more youthful Warner. Absent are the touches of gray in his hair. The chapter about the Chamber includes a brief bio of Warner:

Both of these engravings can be compared with the elderly Warner, whose care -worn photo appeared on the cover of his catalog for Warner’s Renowned Remedies, his unsuccessful effort to resurrect his patent medicine empire in the 1920’s.

Other engravings or photographs of Warner likely exist given his great success and public image. It provides us with yet another image of a man that shaped the patent medicine industry of the late 19th Century.