{"product_id":"bum-fodder-book-richard-smyth-9780285643680","title":"Bum Fodder","description":"This   is the hidden history of an invention that we use every day but seldom dare   to speak of. In medieval China it was cutting-edge technology. For   19th-century Americans it was a newfangled alternative to dried corncobs and   the Sears \u0026amp; Roebuck catalogue. Wits in Georgian London preferred   pages of bad poetry. The sages of ancient Athens were content to wield the   xylospongion instead. It's the tale of toilet paper; the biography of   bumfodder.   From its origins at the Imperial court of Emperor Hongwu to its   reinvention as a quack remedy for haemorrhoids in 1870s New York city; from   the Dutch and their mussel-shells to Henry VIII and his Groom of the Stool;   from Madame de Prie's pioneering bidet to the space-age Washlet; from   leaf-wielding chimpanzees to Mr Thirsty Fiber and the world's first   three-adjective loo-roll - it's a story of necessity and invention, luxury   and squalor, experiment and tradition.   What does a submarine crew do when it   runs out of toilet paper? Who stole the Pope's loo-roll? Does printer's ink   cause piles? How do you fold a sheet of toilet paper in half more than seven   times? What did 'bumphleteers' do, and why? Richard Smyth answers the   questions you never thought to ask about the product we can't live without.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50103020388625,"sku":"GOR008378454","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0285643681.jpg?v=1750695743","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/products\/bum-fodder-book-richard-smyth-9780285643680","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}