The Doctrine of Abstinence from Blood Defended
The Doctrine of Abstinence from Blood Defended. In Answer to Two Pamphlets, the One Called, The Question About Eating Blood Stated and Examined, &c. The Other Intitled, The Prohibition of Blood a Temporary Precept
by Patrick Delany
| The Doctrine of Abstinence from Blood Defended | |
 Title page from The Doctrine of Abstinence from Blood Defended, George Wythe Collection, Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary. | |
| Author | Patrick Delany |
| Published | London: C. Rivington |
| Date | 1734 |
| Edition | First |
| Language | English |
| Pages | viii, 180 |
| Desc. | 8vo (20 cm.) |
Patrick Delany (1685/6–1768), an Irishman, attended school at Trinity College in 1701 and was elected scholar in 1704.[1] He went on to get his Masters in 1709 and he began preparing for ordination.[2] By 1728, he had received the chancellorship for the Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin and later added St. Patrick’s, the second-largest cathedral in Dublin.[3] In 1744, he accepted an appointment as the dean of Downs where Delany tried to rectify the wickedness he saw among the people—gambling; excess eating, drinking, and dress; cheating; avarice; and pride.[4] Delany died at Bath, in England, at the age of 82, and was buried in Glasnevin graveyard in Ireland.[5]
The writer of many tracts and pamphlets, Delany composed The Doctrine of Abstinence from Blood Defended to explain his reasoning in support of vegetarianism.[6] Delany examines several Bible verses beginning with the story of Noah’s Ark to express his belief that abstinence from blood is clarified in the Bible.[7] Knowing his subject was unpopular, he even states in the preface that this pamphlet will go against many theological views, and that many scholars will disagree completely.[8]
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
An existing copy sold to the Library of Congress by Thomas Jefferson in 1815 is "probably from the library of George Wythe [with] manuscript notes [which] appear to be in his hand."[9] However, Jefferson did not list the title in his inventory of Wythe's Library. Despite this, all four of the Wythe Collection sources (Goodwin's pamphlet[10] Dean's Bibliography[11], Brown's Bibliography[12] and George Wythe's Library[13] on LibraryThing) include this title.
Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy
Rebound in period style full calf.
View this book in William & Mary's online catalog.
References
- ↑ Alfred Webb, "Patrick Delany", Comprising Sketches of Distinguished Irishmen, Eminent Persons Connected with Ireland by Office or by Their Writings (Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, 1878), Library Ireland website, accessed October 9, 2013.
- ↑ Toby Barnard, "Delany, Patrick (1685/6–1768)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004- ), accessed October 9, 2013.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Webb, "Patrick Delany.”
- ↑ Patrick Delany, The Doctrine of Abstinence from Blood Defended. In Answer to Two Pamphlets, the One Called, The Question About Eating Blood Stated and Examined, &c. The Other Intitled, The Prohibition of Blood a Temporary Precept (London: C. Rivington, 1734).
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ E. Millicent Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:162 [no.1633].
- ↑ Mary R. M. Goodwin, The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), li.
- ↑ Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean, Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 7 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).
- ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433
- ↑ LibraryThing, s. v. "Member: George Wythe", accessed on June 28, 2013.
