Asses Milk to be Sold... by William Guest [...] Knightsbridge,

Bookseller Notes

Attractive and very scarce trade card/bill of sale. Asses milk was touted as a curative for a host of general ailments; in 1754 Friedrich Hoffman had claimed that it was effective against the common evils of gout, scurvy and tuberculosis, and even argued that it could cure the general effects of ageing (much like the raw milk craze of today). It became a popular remedy amongst the monied classes, though it was notoriously difficult to get hold of; several nobles were forced to buy an ass of their own, and others had to engage in complicated acquisition procedures (the Duke of Bedford, having been prescribed asses milk for his eyes, had to send all the way from Woburn Abbey to Streatham). This problem of supply and demand was tackled by the enterprising William Guest who, as his trade card asserts, not only sold pre-bottled milk, but also offered the luxury option of bringing an ass, ready for milking, to an address in either town or country, 'at any hour in the day'. Rare. Only one other reference found (Lewis Walpole Library).See: Friedrich Hoffmann, A Treatise of the Extraordinary Virtues and Effects of Asses Milk (1754); Lisa Smith, 'On Asses Milk', The Sloane Letters Project: sloaneletters[dot]com/on-asses-milk/