Bromo Toilet Paper "Traveller's Wallet", by Diamond Mills Paper Company Limited, 1950-1970, purchased at a grocery store in Nairobi in the 1970s

On a grant and always on the lookout for a bargain one day in the 1970s a student and researcher saw a box of the Bromo Traveller’s Wallets for sale and bought them all. The impression he got was that they were left over from a long time previously due to lack of customer interest. Packets of this toilet paper accompanied the donor on his ecology research in locations including the south Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Tanzania, Oman, St Helena Island, and Chagos Archipelago.

The Bromo Traveller’s Wallet was a popular choice when it first hit the market in the 1870s, winning prizes at the 1878 Paris Exposition. Its’ winning medal being reproduced on every pack. In the 1950s Bromo toilet paper enjoyed a revival, being sold and advertised in chemists and druggists across Britain. Originally the paper was infused with carbolic acid and a specially formulated compound known as ‘Bromo Chloralum’ to ward off haemorrhoids and as a disinfectant.