This Bewitching Poison: Alcohol and the Royal College of Physicians

From the ‘gin craze’ in the 1700s to minimum unit pricing debates today, our exhibition tells stories of drinking: consumption and regulation, excess and temperance, celebration and destitution, disease and cure.

Discover how doctors, campaigners, artists and satirists charted the pleasures and pitfalls of wine, beer and spirits and the ways in which the government and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) responded – with far-reaching implications for us all today.

On display will be paintings, prints, rare books and intriguing artefacts with loans from the Museum of London, the Wellcome Library, the Cartoon Museum and others.