Blake William

1798 · réf. 7427 — London: Printed for John Murray 1798. First edition in English. Near Fine. Three folio volumes bound in five 12 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches; 327 x 260 mm. ii half-title verso blank ii vignette title-page verso blank ii translator's preface vi advertisement iv contents x list of subscribers ii dedication vi author's preface ii French translators' preface 3-280; iii-xii; 1-3 4-238; 1 half title vol II. part II verso blank 239-444; iii-iv title-page verso blank v-xii contents 1-252; 2 half title vol III. part III 253-437 1 blank 1-xi index 1 blank pp. Complete with 174 engraved plates after Rubens Fuseli Bartlozzi and Blake. Bound ca. 1830 in full dark green diced calf covers with double ruled gilt line and decorative corner-pieces in gilt. Spines with five raised bands elaborately tooled in gilt two brown morocco labels lettered in gilt. Gilt ruled board edges and turn-ins marbled endpapers all edges gilt. With the engraved armorial bookplate of Viscount Birkenhead on front paste-down of each volume. Some light foxing and offsetting throughout but still an incredible set of this landmark work. Near Fine. Johann Caspar Lavater 1741 - 1801 "was the last and most influential of the descriptive physiognomists a class of pseudo-scientists who attempted to ascertain character on the basis of physical features.Von der Physiognomik 1772 an unillustrated two-volume book was Lavater's first work on the subject; this was later expanded with the help of Goethe into the four-volume Physiognomische Fragmente 1775 - 1778 and further perfected in a French translation Essais sur la physiognomie 1781.supervised by Lavater himself. Lavater's physiognomy differed from those of his predecessors in that he paid special attention to the structure of the head particularly the forehead - a form of psychological indexing that exerted some influence on the development of phrenology and brain localization theories in the early nineteenth century. Lavater's work also influenced artists of the period both in the overall creation of portraits and in the use of his physiognomical theories to construct individual faces in historical paintings" Norman Library. Among the portraits included in Essays on Physiognomy are those of Descartes Locke Milton Newton Vesalius Voltaire and George Washington. Osler 3178. Near Fine. Printed for John Murray unknown