Black Hellebore Tincture3s 6d
Helleborus niger · winter-dug, cellar-aged
For melancholy that arrives punctually, at the same hour each evening, and lets itself in.
Contra-indicated: not to be taken by those who dream of water.
Est. MDCCLXXXIII · № 9 Blackfriars Lane, London
Apothecarium
Bitters & Botanical Remedies — purveyors to the sleepless, the lovelorn, & the recently bereaved.
The shop is older than the street it stands on. The candles are never allowed to go out entirely, because the last time they did, something in the cellar finished a sentence it had begun in 1791. We sell bitters, simples, tinctures, and honest advice. Two of these are guaranteed.
- This evening
- 47 drams sealed
- Cellar sentence
- unfinished
- Bell temper
- ill-advised
Sectio Prima · The Shelf
The Remedy Ledger
Prices in shillings & pence, the dram. Contraindications are given in a smaller hand, as Miss Marsh instructed — so as not to alarm, merely to inform.
Last audited12 October 1811
Unsettled accounts1 invoice, framed
Drawer № 13Absent by consent
Wormwood Cordial, Double-Bitter2s 2d
Artemisia absinthium · house receipt of 1811
Restores appetite and resolve; sharpens the recollection of debts owed to you.
Contra-indicated: avoid before correspondence with estranged relations.
Valerian Sleeping Draught1s 9d
Valeriana officinalis · with a thread of hop
Nine drops in warm milk grant a sleep without visitors. Twelve drops, and the visitors sleep too.
Contra-indicated: do not administer within sight of a mirror.
Feverfew Electuary1s 4d
Tanacetum parthenium · in orange-flower honey
Quiets the ringing head. Proof against megrims, thunder-aches, and the opinions of physicians.
Contra-indicated: may cause plain speaking.
Essence of Mandrake7s 0d
Mandragora officinarum · drawn at the dark of the moon
Pulled by gloved hands, decanted in silence. For questions that require answers.
Contra-indicated: the house accepts no liability for what answers.
Verdigris Balm4s 8d
Aes viride præparatum · copper-green, cold-stirred
For wounds that remember their weapons. Apply thinly, speaking calmly and only of the weather.
Contra-indicated: discontinue if the scar begins to itch in Latin.
Ledger continues, vol. XXII of XXII. Preparations № 1–3 predate the ledger and are not for sale. Preparation № 13 is not discussed.
Sectio Secunda · The Back Room
The Compounding Table
Draw open any three of the botanical drawers. The tincture will compose itself upon the label, as is its habit. It has never once asked what you wanted.
The label, at present
— awaiting three botanicals —
The table is patient. It has composed eleven thousand receipts and forgotten none of them, including several it composed before being asked.
Draw three drawers to begin.
Sectio Tertia · The Succession
Keepers of the Counter
Two hundred and forty-three years, six proprietors, one unpaid invoice.
- 1783
Ezekiel Marsh
Founder. Ground the first gentian on a marble slab carried from Leiden on his back. His ledger opens with the house rule, never repealed: “Let nothing be sold that has not been tasted.” Died 1811, accounts balanced to the farthing.
- 1811
Tabitha Marsh
His daughter. Introduced the wax seal, the double-bitter cordial, and the practice of writing contraindications in Latin — so as not to alarm, merely to inform. Outlived three husbands and one archbishop, none of whom she treated.
- 1847
Aldous Crane
Arrived to settle an invoice and stayed to manage the still-room. The invoice hangs framed by the door, unpaid. Mr. Crane has not been seen to leave the premises since — though the alembic is always warm, and drawer № 31 is always shut.
- 1901
Wilhelmina Voss
Trained in Vienna; distrusted electricity. Had the shop wired for it anyway and then never once turned it on. The candles, she wrote, “know where everything is.”
- 1963
The Brothers Quill
Rebound the ledgers, catalogued 1,200 preparations, and quietly retired № 13 from sale. They declined to say where it went. So did it.
- Now
The counter is kept
By whom is a question the shop answers differently depending on the hour. Ring the bell once. If it rings twice, it is Thursday.
Sectio Quarta · Marginalia
Found Pressed in the Ledger
“The valerian draught answers. I slept the night entire, and the house — for once — slept with me.”
— Mrs. E. Harrow, 1794
“Charged me two shillings and told me the truth for nothing. I shall return for both.”
— a naval surgeon, 1852
“I asked for something against forgetting. The girl at the counter was not there when I turned round, but the parcel was.”
— M. R., 1918
“Five stars. The tincture arrived before I ordered it, which is one star off for presumption.”
— an online review, 2019
Sectio Quinta · Under Seal
The House Guarantee
Warranted: every preparation leaving this counter is proof against spoilage, sediment, and sorrow for one year and one day from the hour of purchase. Should your remedy fail, return the unused portion to Blackfriars Lane with a true account of your complaint, and the house will compound it anew — gratis, by candle-light, and without questions. The house reserves only its ancient right to raise an eyebrow.
E. Marsh & Successors
sealed in ox-blood wax since 1811 — the promise keeps better than the keepers
Sectio Ultima · Visiting
Hours of Business
- Weekdays
- from dusk until the candle fails
- Sundays
- by the side door; knock thrice, then wait
- Thursdays
- the bell rings itself — take no notice
- Full moon
- closed for stock-taking (the stock takes itself)
three doors past the bookbinder, beneath the sign of the copper alembic
Post-scriptum — letters are answered in strict rotation. Some rotations are longer than others.