500+ ENGRAVINGS. Essays on Physiognomy

London: John Murray, 1798. First edition.

1792 HANDSOMLY BOUND 5-VOLUME FOLIO COMPILATION OF OVER 500 ENGRAVINGS IN A SUMPTUOUS ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ESSAYS ON PHYSIOGNAMY BY LAVATER.

Five 28x34 cm folio volumes (3 volumes in 5), full leather bindings, gilt fillets to covers, all edges gilt. Expertly rebacked with tooled leather and gilt green leather spine labels,. Vol. I, [xii], [10], 281 pp, engravings; Vol. II part 1, [x], 238 pp, engravings; Vol. II part 2, [vi], [239] - 444 pp, engravings; Vol. III, part 1, [vii], 252 pp, engravings; Vol III, part 2, [253] – 437 pp, [xi] (index & directions to binder), engravings. Total over 500 engravings, including 172 full page engraved plates. Wear to cover edges, corners worn, hinges reinforced, scattered foxing, offsetting to some plates, no previous owner or library marks. Vol. 1 with small ink blots on pages 224-225, plate opposite page 112 foxed and loose. A beautifully bound collection of remarkable engravings in 5 heavy volumes - very good minus. Although the title page of Volumes I, II, and III state, "illustrated by more than eight hundred engravings," this has been retracted in fine print at the bottom of the Directions to the Binder on the last line of the last page of the last volume: "In the Title pages delete 'upwards of eight hundred." This error was not discovered before the Titles were printed off, and it was thought better to let it pass than to deprive the purchasers of the fine impressions of the Vignettes which they contain. This English edition in fact contains 537 copper plates, of which 173 are full page plates. Although the Directions to the Binder lists 174 plates, a note by number 29 indicates, "This number was passed over in marking the plates, of course, it has no subject belonging to it." Moreover, as true of many large illustrated works of the period, the set offered here lacks one plate that was omitted by the binder—in this case "Daughter of Herodius," that is included in facsimile. The number of original plates in the present copy is therefore 172, collated against the Directions to the Binder.

JOHANN KASPAR LAVATER (1741–1801) was a Swiss poet, writer, philosopher, physiognomist and theologian. Lavater is most well-known for his work in the field of physiognomy, Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe, published between 1775 and 1778. He introduced the idea that physiognomy related to the specific character traits of individuals, rather than general types. Lavater is attributed with catalyzing a golden age for silhouettes through this work in physiognomy. According to him, the character of a person could be elucidated through examining their "lines of countenance". The most accurate readings were facilitated by the tracing of a profile outline portrait. The two principal sources from which Lavater developed his physiognomical studies were the writings of the Italian polymath Giambattista della Porta, and the observations made by Sir Thomas Browne in his Religio Medici. The fame of this book, which found admirers in France and England as well as Germany, rests largely upon the handsome style of publication and the accompanying illustrations. The English translation offered here is regarded as one of the finest illustrated books of the era. The engravings by Fuseli, Chodowiecki, Holloway, Bartolozzi and Blake are superb, and they include portraits of luminaries such as Goethe, Samuel Johnson, Locke, George Washington, Voltaire, Heidegger, Diderot, Isaac Newton, Rousseau, and Bach. Equally engaging are the engraved vignettes interspersed throughout over 1000 pages of letterpress text on heavy paper. In addition to its great artistic appeal, Essays on Physiognomy brought together science and natural history of the 18th century, evidenced by a heavily annotated copy of a 10-volume French edition of the work in Charles Darwin's library.

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