Planting The Seeds Of ‘Veganism’

The Ernest Bell Library is holding 2 original copies of the book –

‘The Logic Of Vegetarianism : Essays And Dialogues’ / by Henry S. Salt.
London : Ideal Publishing Union 1899
Physical description
vi, 119 p. ; 19 cm.

See the images below.

I will firstly focus on one key section of the book, from page 11 – it is copied & transcribed below –

 Part of an 1899 discussion going to the point of 100% vegetarianism – later called ‘veganism’.

Transcribed – from page 11 of – ‘The Logic Of Vegetarianism : Essays And Dialogues’ – I have used red to highlight the key parts.

Superior Person : ……There are individuals, are there not, who live upon a purely vegetable diet, without using milk or eggs? Now, those are the people whose action one can at least appreciate and respect.

Vegetarian : Quite so. We fully admit that they are in advance of their fellows. We regard them as pioneers, who are now anticipating a future phase of our movement.

Superior Person: You admit, then, that this extreme vegetarianism is the more ideal diet?

Vegetarian : Yes……

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……but this was not new thinking.

We can go 90+ years further back……

A piece from John Davis at ivu.org – 

~ Our understanding of vegan nutrition has come a long way in the last 200 years, but it had to start somewhere, and William Lambe (1765-1848), Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, was the first to be specific about it way back in 1809.

In 1806, age 41, Lambe was concerned about his own state of health, and changed his diet to exclusively plant foods and distilled water. The word ‘vegetable’ in those days included all types of vegetation (as in ‘animal, vegetable or mineral’), so the ‘vegetable diet’ as it was commonly known, included fruits, grains, nuts, beans etc. Most people following this diet included cow’s milk, but Dr. Lambe did not – and he kept to his strictly vegetable/vegan diet for the rest of life – click to read John’s complete article

“My reason for objecting to every species of matter to be used as food, except the direct produce of the earth – as maybe seen in my last publication – is founded on the broad ground that no other matter is suited to the organs of man. This applies then with the same force to eggs, milk, cheese, and fish, as to flesh meat.” ~ – Dr. William Lambe – in his book – “Water and Vegetable Diet in Consumption, Scrofula, Cancer, Asthma, and Other Chronic Diseases” (1815)

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Henry S. Salt’s main customer base for ‘The Logic Of Vegetarianism : Essays And Dialogues’, and his many other books & booklets, were the milky, eggy, honey loving Bible Christians in the north of England, who abstained only from flesh meat.

…………but in London & the south of England there were just a few 100% vegetarians.

Henry S. Salt and Ernest Bell were keen to see their numbers grow; they were both very ‘active’ for 60+ years of their lives.

Ernest Bell died in 1933.

Henry S. Salt died in 1938.

Dugald Semple, Dorothy & Donald Watson,  Elsie “Sally” Shrigley, and others discussed / met in 1944 and founded the ‘Vegan Society’.

……so, in the West it has gone from one or two people circa 1800 – ……it became a few dozen by the 1830s – ……& became a few hundred by the 1930s – ……& became a few thousand by the 1960s – ……& has become several million by 2015!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

7 more blog posts on ‘1830s to 1930s’ 100% vegetarianism / pre-veganism

1) Asenath Nicholson – ‘Vegan in New York’ in the 1830s – Missionary, Philanthropist And Traveler – here

2) London Vegans meeting in 1856 – Elizabeth and William Horsell – plus many of their friends – here

3) ‘Leafy greens – six times a day – NO OIL’ – the recommended diet for 2015 and 1874 – here

4) Full Of Beans……. Beans, Logic & Consistency The Roots of Veganism – here

5) Veganism – A Life Containing No Logical Contradictions – here

6) LIVING THE SIMPLE LIFE – By Dugald Semple – Vegan 108 Years Ago – here

7) The Ernest Bell Library, Our Etymological Past, Sixpences, Dogs and Anti-Vivisection – here

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Some images of one of our Ernest Bell Library copies of –

‘The Logic Of Vegetarianism : Essays And Dialogues’ / by Henry S. Salt.
London : Ideal Publishing Union 1899
Physical description
vi, 119 p. ; 19 cm.

The cover reads – Vegetarian Jubilee Library 1897.

Charles W. Forward produced a short series of books between 1897 & 1899, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the original UK Vegetarian Society, which had been started in 1847.

Very few copies of ‘The Logic Of Vegetarianism : Essays And Dialogues’ book seem to have survived to 2015. Copac lists 7 copies, of the same 1899 first edition, held in major UK libraries.

Our Ernest Bell reprinted it in 1906 – click here to read the full book.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Our Main Projects

The Henry Salt Archive is one of our, almost completed, projects.

The Humanitarian League is our Hong Kong registered charity.

The Ernest Bell Library was conceived in 1934. Most of the books, journals, magazines, leaflets etc. mentioned in these blog posts are in the care of the Ernest Bell Library in Hong Kong.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

If anyone would like more information, please send an email to: – 

humanitarianleague (at) outlook (dot) com 

– or message me  through HappyCow – 

https://www.happycow.net/blog/author/JohnnySensible/

Comment via Facebook