Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Co. Views of Its Establishments.

(TRADE CATALOG)

Published by Orell Fussli [ca. 1882], Zurich, 1882

About this Item

First edition. Oblong quarto (11 x 8 inches). the book consists entirely of 23 finely executed and very expensively printed tinted lithographs of the company?s various factories and offices in Europe and England. Each lithograph is printed on thick clay paper and bound to a stub. Publisher?s red cloth with beveled edges, bevels blind stamped in an Etruscan key pattern, front cover with elaborate gilt lettering, faux moire silk endpapers. A very good copy of an important and very scarce item. OCLC locates 2 copies but one is an online resource and the other gives no location (conceivably making this the the only known copy).Gail Borden invented condensed milk during the time af the Civil war and it was a huge success. Unlike regular milk it was portable over great distances, had a very long shelf life and it was safe. Two brothers, George and Charles Page from Illinois ( one of whom came into contact with condensed milk as a soldier in the civil war), sought to emulate this success by opening a condensed milk factory is Switzerland, a place renown for it?s dairy industry, to supply the European market with condensed milk. They named it the Anglo-Swiss company as their target market was Great Britain. But they were successful beyond their dreams and by 1891 it had 12 factories across Europe and the US that exported worldwide. Anglo Swiss then expanded into the USA by purchasing its first factory in Middletown, New York and its second around 1889 (then the largest condensed milk factory in the world) in the Page brothers' home town of Dixon, Illinois. This book was likely printed as a celebration for the companies newly opened North American factories. It must have had a very small print run due to its luxurious production and was perhaps only given to large shareholders. At the same time as Page brothers were introducing condensed milt to Europe, a young German pharmacist by the same of Henri Nestle had developed and was producing a viable powdered milk product that was used as a substitute for breast milk. He too was extremely successful. The competition between the companies was fierce. From the company's website -- "Nestlé Company?s history began in 1866, with the establishment of the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company by two US brothers, Charles and George Page. Using plentiful supplies of fresh milk in Switzerland, they applied knowledge gained in their homeland to establish Europe?s first condensed milk production facility in Cham. They began supplying the product under the Milkmaid brand to Europe?s industrial towns, marketing it as a safe, long-lasting alternative to fresh milk. In 1905, Henri Nestle?s company merged with Anglo-Swiss to form what is now known as the Nestlé Group." Nestle still produces condensed milk under the Milkmaid brand to this day.

Seller Inventory # 76605

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Co. Views of Its Establishments.
• Publisher: Orell Fussli [ca. 1882], Zurich
• Publication Date: 1882