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(SCIENCE.) LAVATER, JOHN CASPAR. Essays on Physiognomy Designed to Promote the Knowledge and Love of Mankind. 3 volumes. Translated by Henry Hunter. 3 title-page vignettes, 173 copper engraved illustrations by or after Blake, Holloway, Sharp, Fuseli, Rubens, Chodowiecki and others, plus 360 text illustrations. 4to, contemporary 1/2 vellum over marbled boards, gilt-lettered spine labels, scattered moderate rubbing and scuffing; top edges trimmed and stained red, scattered infrequent soiling, marginal repair to page [24], a few plate margins with dampstaining, title-page with light dampstaining to right margin and a 1-inch repaired tear. London: T. Bensley for John Murray et al, 1789-92
Lavater, among the most pervasive and influential moral-scientific writers of the late eighteenth century, revived and popularized theories on Physiognomy, the belief that an individual's outward appearance offers clues to his or her internal qualities. While the impact of his theories on European literature and thought persisted well into the nineteenth century, influencing writers such as Goethe, Zola, Balzac, and Charlotte Brönte, it was reviled by William Blake whose criticisms were of great interest to scholars of both Blake and Lavater. Blake/Bentley 258; Osler 3178.
