“In Sheridan Le Fanu’s gothic ghost story ‘The Mysterious Lodger’, a respirator is worn by the sinister title character who is rarely seen without his green spectacles, respirator, and buttoned-up frock coat. (Green spectacles, used to correct a variety of eye conditions, are a little like the respirator in that they appear as an object of mockery in contemporary fiction.)”
PENNY GUSH is a fanzine that explores the weird and wonderful aspects of 19th-century history.
Issue 1 examines the Jeffreys respirator, a medical device invented in 1836 as an aid to those with various respiratory diseases, but also a device that became associated with quackery and hypochondriac spinsters, described by a contemporary periodical looking like a “passport to the realms of suffering and death”.
The zine is an experiment in academic publishing, with historian Jennifer Wallis presenting extensive research drawn from archives and primary sources in a format that attests to the ‘messiness’ of both historical research and the stories we tell about medicine and technology.
Size: 210mm x 297mm (A4)
Page Count: 26
Binding: Staples
Publisher/Editor/Author: Jennifer Wallis
Illustrated: Antiquarian prints and ads / Colour
Available Now
Click Image For Sample Pages