A PAIR OF 1869 HARTFORD EARTH-CLOSET COMPOSTING TOILET PROMOTIONAL PAMPHLETS

Hartford: Printed by Clark & Booth, 1869., 1869. First edition. First edition. Two 8 3/4" x 5 1/2" printed wrappers, 4 pp. per each. A pair of uncommon 19th century pamphlets on an uncommon 19th century subject earth composting toilets. Although they’ve enjoyed a remarkable revival in our contemporary conservation-conscious society, the obvious benefits of these environmentally-friendly devices was completely lost on the Victorian mind, for whom it was too close to the familiar outhouse, and to whom indoor plumbing held an insurmountable convenience and charm. And, you know, once it goes down the toilet and into the sewer and from thence into the river, who cares? Nonetheless a search of records does show several Victorian entrepreneurs who tried to make the idea commercially viable, though without notable success. This pair of pamphlets consists of "The Management of Earth Closets, Full Details. Important to Country Housekeepers (Reprinted from the New York Evening Post)," and "New Testimony in Favor of the Earth-Closet", both issued in 1869 by the Earth Closet Company of Hartford, Connecticut. The first pamphlet gives full and extremely detailed details on the technicalities of earth closets, their construction and use, and the second consists of letters from happy earth-closet purchasers, including several factories which saw their sewage bills dramatically decreased. Neither pamphlet is at all common "Management" has 3 OCLC locations (AAS, U.of Delaware, Columbia U.), and "New Testimony" has no OCLC locations at all. Some light edge wear, small closed tears at a few creases, else very good copies. Each printed on flimsy paper and somewhat delicate, but quite nice.