Moule's Patent Earth Closet. Price List

Hartford, CT: Earth Closet Co., 1870. Very good. Small broadside, n. d. (1870s - 1880s); 8 1/4 x 5 1/4; off-white stock, printed in black and illustrated with a small engraving; a small spot to lower left corner, else minor wear - in very good or better condition.Published by its American manufacturer, the advertisement and price list represented Moule's Patent Earth Closet - the first, revolutionary, composting, dry toilet system, invented and patented in 1860 by the Reverend Henry Moule (1801 - 1880). A Victorian clergyman in the Church of England, Moule was motivated by the widespread cholera outbreaks of the mid-19th century (especially the one during the summer of 1858, the latter called the "Great Stink") to find a more sanitary solution to human waste. Disapproving of the earlier water-based systems, for their pollution of the rivers and the sea, Moule came up with a design for a dry toilet, resembling a wooden chair with a toilet seat and a metal bucket underneath, which used dry earth or peat to cover the waste, to suppress the odor, and to initiate the composting process. It contained a hopper for storing the dry material and a lever to release it into a bucket beneath the seat. When full, the bucket's contents were used as fertilizer in the field or the garden.The current price list, issued by the Earth Closet Company - American manufacturers of Moule's toilet, included descriptions and prices for the various commodes (mixed wood, walnut, etc.), fixtures, etc.