One hundred years after the opening of his Historical Medical Museum, Henry Wellcome has never been more recognised, both as a voracious collector and pharmaceutical entrepreneur, than he is today. Wellcome, however, pronounced during his lifetime that his business and collection should remain separate concerns. Despite this aim, these two dominating areas of his life do intermingle in the pages of the trade literature produced by his company, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. This paper will show that a close reading of these materials – such as diaries aimed at medical professionals and specially produced localised publications for conferences of the British Medical Association - illustrate not only Wellcome’s methods in promoting the full range of his products (from compressed medicines to photographic developers) but also a system of understanding medicine’s past that encompassed non-western traditions.