ON THE PRIMEVAL DIET OF MAN; Arguments in Favour of Vegetable Food; On Man's Conduct to Animals. [Together with]: ON FOOD. [And]: ON CLOTHING. (3 books in one volume).

Poughnill, near Ludlow: George Nicholson, 1800-1803. [1803]., [1803].. - Three books bound in one volume. 16mo, 5-5/8 inches high by 3-1/2 inches wide. Full vintage tree calf with gilt decorations on the spine and formal gilt roulettes framing the covers. All edges are marbled. The covers are heavily rubbed and scuffed with wear to the corners and the edges. The leather is splitting along the joints and the spine is heavily chipped with pieces out. [484] pages in all, illustrated with 3 engraved pictorial title pages and 2 tailpieces. There is occasional foxing throughout with dampstaining to each of the 3 title pages. From the collection of William West Jones, with his armorial bookplate on the front pastedown. West has additionally penned the name of each of the titles on the front pastedown with his name, address and the date "1809" at the top of the "advertisement" leaf.

Following are detailed descriptions of each of the works, starting with that which is here bound in as the second book as it is arguably the most significant:

"ON THE PRIMEVAL DIET OF MAN; Arguments in Favour of Vegetable Food; On Man's Conduct to Animals, etc". First edition. Published July 11, 1801 by George Nicholson Poughnill, near Ludlow. Sold in London by Champante & Whitrow, Jewry Street, Aldgate; R. Bickerstaff, Strand; T. Conder, Bucklersbury; Lackington, Allen, & Co Finsbury Sq.; H.D. Symonds, Paternoster Row; and all other Booksellers. Title, i-ii, pages 1-221, and a 3 page index. Illustrated with an engraved pictorial title page drawn by William Marshall Craig and engraved by William Bromley, as well as a tailpiece. As per the "Advertisement" page "The vignette which ornaments the title-page, was designed from the account of an extraordinary instance of reason in a dog, page 129".

This work is followed by:

"ON FOOD". Published August 18 1803, by George Nicholson, Poughnill, near Ludlow. Sold in London by H.D. Symonds, Paternoster Row; Champante & Whitrow Aldgate; R. Bickerstaff Strand; T. Conder Bucklersbury; Lackington, Allen & Co. Finsbury Square; and all other booksellers. [Title]; pages i-ii, [1] page of contents, 1-179, plus a 3 page index. Illustrated with an engraved pictorial title by Richard Corbould, engraved by William Bromley, as well as a tailpiece.

From the Preface to the work: "It is a remark frequently made that 'if animal food was not eaten, we would not have a sufficient variety for the supply of our tables.' To obviate this objection to a vegetable diet has been a leading purpose of the following compilation.... A complete book of cookery has not been intended; the preparations of food, therefore, most universally known, have been omitted. From the unreflecting, from those who conform implicitly to custom, or from those whose minds are prejudiced, the compiler expects to receive unqualified censure; but by those, at least, who have adopted a frugivorous diet, this tract will be favorably received." Nicholson goes on to discuss various fruits and vegetables, suggesting complimentary ingredients in the composition of various salads, followed by suggested salad dressings. He writes of nuts and root vegetables and describes a recipe for making potato cakes. He offers recipes for baking breads and cakes as well as pasta. Nicholson offers recipes for a variety of soups, including "Egg soup", "Pease soup", "French soup", and a "Soup made at Iver, in Bucks". Although he precedes the subject with warnings as to its abuse, the author offers recipes for making wine and spirits as well as beer, including "Beer of Treacle".

The work bound at the front of the volume is:

"ON CLOTHING". Published Sept. 1, 1800 by George Nicholson, College Ludlow. Sold by Champante & Whitrow 4 Jewry Street Aldgate, London; and by all other Booksellers. i-ii, 63, & [1] pages, the last page being a table of contents. Illustrated with en engraved pictorial title drawn by William Marshall Craig engraved by Charles Pye, as well as a textual illustration related to shoes on page 29. First published in Manchester in 1797 with only 48 pages, this second edition was expanded to 63 pages.

Subjects of the above work include: "The Children of the Poor and Rich Compared", "On the Causes and Consequences of a too early Secretion and Emission of Semen", and "Causes of Ruptures" [Hernias]. His 2-page Advertisement is a response to criticism of the previous edition: "In obviation of the latter part of the charge [that the work would be offensive to women], the compiler cannot allow that man is a being privileged to investigate the arena of nature, to the exclusion of woman; especially where both sexes are mutually concerned and interested. There appears a degrading intention couched in such conduct. A lady might not, indeed, choose to receive a physical treatise from the hands of a very distant acquaintance, from a fear of his deducing an unfavourable or dishonourable opinion of her character, but a well-informed woman would not hesitate a moment to receive such a book from a parent, a guardian, or a friend, and it might furnish subjects for conversation, without any impression of indecorum, impropriety, or indelicacy."

Arguably, the most significant of the three works is Nicholson's "The Primeval Diet of Man...." In his 1883 work "The Ethics of Diet", the English humanitarian and vegetarian Howard Williams (1837-1931) speaks thus of Nicholson: "Among the least known, but none the less the most estimable, of the advocates of the rights of the oppressed species and the heralds of the dawn of a better day, the humble Yorkshire printer, who undertook the unpopular and unremunerative work of publishing to the world the sorrows and sufferings of the non-human races, claims our highest respect and admiration." Williams goes on to write specifically of the work at hand: "...his magnum opus, which appeared in the year 1801, under the title of The Primeval Diet of Man : Arguments in Favour of Vegetable Food; with Remarks on Man's Conduct to [other] Animals...." and goes on to describe this very compilation: "The value of The Primeval Diet was enhanced by the addition, in a later issue, of a tract On Food (1803), in which are given recipes for the preparation of 'one hundred perfectly palatable and nutritious substances, which may easily be procured at an expense much below the price of the limbs of our fellow animals. . . . Some of the recipes, on account of their simple form, will not be adopted even by those in the middle rank of life. Yet they may be valuable to many of scanty incomes, who desire to avoid the evils of want, or to make a reserve for the purchasing of books and other mental pleasures.' He also published a tract On Clothing, which contains much sensible and practical advice on an important subject." Williams goes on to observe that "In another section of the book Nicholson undertakes to expose the inconsistencies of flesh-eaters, and the strange illogicalities of the position of many protesters against various forms of cruelty, who condone the greatest cruelty of all - the (necessary) savagery of the butchers." He then goes on to quote Nicholson: "By suddenly despatching one when in extreme misery, we do a kind office, an office which reason approves, and which accords with our best and kindest feelings, but which (such is the force of custom) we no longer enjoy happiness, they may perhaps be deprived of life. Do not suppose that in this reasoning an intention is included of perverting nature. No! some animals are savage and unfeeling; but let not their ferocity and brutality be the standard pattern of the conduct of man. Because some of them have no compassion, feeling, or reason, are we to to possess no compassion, feeling, or reason?" and further quotes Nicholson: "The agreeable taste of food is not always a proof of its nourishing or wholesome properties."

RARE.