The British Pharmaceutical Codex (BPC) was first published in 1907, to supplement the British Pharmacopoeia which although extensive, did not cover all the medicinal items that a pharmacist might require in daily work.
Other books existed, such as Squire's, but the BPC was intended to be official, published by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (PSGB).
It laid down standards for the composition of medicines and surgical dressings.
[1] In 1963 Edward G Feldmann, director of revision for the US National Formulary, described it as "a compilation of highly authoritative and useful therapeutic (actions and doses) information as well as a valuable compendium of recognised standards and specifications".
The Medicines Commission had recommended in 1972 that the British Pharmacopoeia should henceforth be the only compendium of official standards for medicines in the UK, and the BPC lost its status as an official book.