The Return to Nature, Or, A Defence of the Vegetable Regimen; With Some Account of an Experiment Made During the Last Three or Four Years in the Author's Family. Part the First [all published].

First edition of this pioneering work of vegetarianism, in which the author advocates for the medical and intellectual benefits of a meat-free diet. It was a great influence on fellow vegetarian Percy Bysshe Shelley as well as on Mary Shelley's depiction of the Creature as a herbivore in Frankenstein. This is a particularly well-preserved copy in the original boards. Newton (1767-1837) promoted a diet of fruit, vegetables, raisins, bread, eggs, milk, and potatoes, and he drank only distilled water because of his belief that the Thames was contaminated with animal fat. Unlike his mentor William Lambe (1765-1847), Newton was not a vegan. He inspired several significant figures to adopt a vegetarian diet, including the physician John Snow (1813-1858) and Percy Shelley, whose Vindication of Natural Diet (1813) echoed Newton's ideas. "It is from his meeting with John Newton in November 1812 that Shelley's proselytising vegetarianism dates. From Newton's book he drew many of his arguments" (Crook and Guiton, p. 77). The two men differed in the fact that Newton was mainly concerned with the scientific benefits rather than the moral implications of vegetarianism. "Though not a doctor, Newton regarded The Return to Nature principally as a work of medicine; he had himself found relief from chronic asthma through vegetarianism and was anxious to impart to others the knowledge of its benefits in a number of diseases" (ibid.). However, "in one of his most surprising and emphatic passages", Newton ventures into a diatribe against "the monster syphilis with all its gorgon terrors" and explains his hope that vegetarianism could cause it to "be driven from the earth" (p. 131). This was expanded upon by Shelley in his own writing through his emphasis on the immorality of consuming flesh in all its guises, along with his link between a carnivorous diet and alcoholism. He made use of the allegory of Prometheus; it was only through the unnatural theft of fire that humans gained the ability to transform meat from bloody flesh into something fit for consumption. Newton was also an occasional guest of Mary Shelley's father, William Godwin, a fellow proponent of the vegetarian diet. Presumably, it was because Newton's ideas filtered through Shelley and Godwin that Mary Shelley decided to describe the Creature in Frankenstein as a vegetarian: "My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment. The picture I present to you is peaceful and human." The Return to Nature is rare in commerce, particularly so in original boards. We can trace just one copy thus at auction, which appeared over 50 years ago. Nora Crook & Derek Guiton, Shelley's Venomed Melody, 2010. Octavo. Uncut in original brown paper-backed blue boards, printed paper spine label. Dedication leaf misbound following introduction. Head of spine crumpled, corners worn, light foxing to boards and contents but otherwise very crisp, initial leaves creased at upper margin, leaf A3 partially loose at lower cord and consequently standing proud: a very good copy. …