Father Mathew: A Biography. London: Longman, Roberts and Green, 1864. Second Edition. Pp xv, 557. Frontispiece portrait & engraved title page. Contemporary plain buckram, very good copy.

Theobald Mathew (1790-1856), an Irish temperance reformer, popularly known as Father Mathew was born at Thomastown, near Golden, County Tipperary. Having entered the Capuchin order, after a brief period of service at Kilkenny, he joined the mission in Cork. The movement with which his name is associated began in 1838 with the establishment of the total Abstinence Society which relied on one enduring act of will to keep a person sober for life. It was called simply The Pledge.