This account of the story of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, from its foundation in 1841 to the present day, is based on its archive papers and describes the purposes for which the Society was founded, the efforts made to fulfil them and ways in which the Society developed and was helped or hindered by other institutions. The archive documents used were complemented by information taken from The Pharmaceutical Journal and also based on minutes of the Society's Council. A selection of illustrations, also from the Society's archives, enhance the text. These were chosen by Kate Arnold-Foster and Nigel Tallis.