Encased Postage Stamps
Exceedingly Rare “Night with Rameses II” Ayer’s Sarsaparilla Advertising Encased Postage Related Booklet
c. 1880, “A Night With Rameses II,” Advertisement Pamphlet, for Ayer’s Sarsaparilla, Encased Postage Stamp Merchant Related, Choice Very Fine.
This original Ayer’s Sarsaparilla Advertising Booklet measures 4.5” x 3.75”, 16-pages, Printed advertisement on rough-edged brown paper simulating papyrus, with loose stitch binding. This small booklet links the story of Rameses II with the virtues of the “ancient” tonic “Sarsaparilla!” It tells the tale of the “Great Ruler” and how he had a particular root that would give him strength and health. To leave his legacy, he wished for the name of the root to be inscribed upon an obelisk. This is where the story coincides with real events.

It was in 1880, a genuine Egyptian obelisk was erected in New York's Central Park, a new interest in Egyptology was afoot, and an advertisement angle for Ayer's Sarsaparilla was executed. The last few pages of the booklet include Egyptian motif ads for other Ayer’s products such as Ayer’s Pills and Ayer’s Cherry Pectoral. This is an extremely rare example of the early advertisement of a “medicine” that was a “cure all” in America before federal regulation. There is a green wax seal still attached to the cover. The first and only example we’ve seen.