ESSAYS ON PHYSIOGNOMY

London: John Murray, 1792. designed to promote the knowledge and the love of mankind. Illustrated by more than eight hundred engravings, accurately copied, and some duplicates added from originals. Executed by, or under the inspection of, Thomas Holloway. Translated from the French by Henry Hunter. Three volumes in five. Comprising: Volume I: Pp. [xii]+ iv+[x]+282(last blank)+4 extra pages numbered *175-*178, engraved title page vignette, plus 15 plates and numerous text illustrations; Volume II, Part I: Pp. xii+238, 45 plates, title page vignette and numerous text illustrations; Volume II, Part II: Pp. [vi]+[239]-444, 46 plates and numerous text illustrations; Volume III, Part I: Pp. xii+252, 24 plates, title page vignette and numerous text illustrations; Volume III, Part II: Pp. [vi]+253-438(last blank)+[12](index and directions to binder], 42 plates, index; super roy. 4to; full calf, boards with decorative borders in gilt & blind, slightly scuffed, edges lightly worn and corners neatly repaired, later calf spines lettered and decorated in gilt, spine of Volume I quite faded; marbled edges and matching endpapers; remains of ribbon markers; hinges strengthened, a couple of small edge chips or splits, scattered foxing (occasionally heavy) and a little light soiling; John Murray, H. Hunter, and T. Holloway [Volume II], London, 1792 & John Stockdale [Volume III], 1810. Mixed set, Volume II being the first English edition, with the sheets of Volume III reissued by Stockdale. ESTC T139902; [ Garrison & Morton 154, citing the German edition]. *Published first in German (Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beforderung von Menschenkenntnis und Menschenlieben, 1775-8), then translated into French as Essais sur la physiognomie. The English edition is a translation from Volumes I to III of the French edition, not including the 1803 posthumous fourth volume . Swiss poet, philosopher and pastor, Johann Caspar Lavater (1741-1801) was the leading eighteenth-century proponent of p hysiognomy, t he ' science ' of judging a person's character b y external appearance, especially the face and head. His work was enormously popular, influencing phrenology, psychiatry, and portraiture. Illustration of the volumes was supervised by Henry Fuseli, and included are portraits of historical, literary and religious figures (Sir Thomas More, George Washington, Brutus, Homer, Apollo, Salome, Jesus, and even Satan) used as examples of the psychological or emotional interpretation of physical features. Three - or possibly four engravings in Volume I are by William Blake (see Bentley, Blake Books, 481. Attribution of one of these, described by Bentley as 'a vignette of two markedly Blakean old men planting trees' has been questioned). Volume II, Part II, which usually has 47 plates, here has only 46. A pencilled inscription below the vignette on p. 164, Volume I identifies that portrait (described in the text as a 'horrible' and 'degraded' face) as 'Sir William Rawlins of Liverpool Street died 26th March 1838'. (Rawlins (1753-1838 was sheriff of London in 1801-2).