"Johann Kaspar LAVATER - Essai de physiognomonie,... Lot 153

"Johann Kaspar LAVATER - Essai de physiognomonie, destined to make Man known and loved The Hague, [Chez Jacques Van Karnebeek] [1781]-1783 First edition of the first French translation, by Madame de La Fite, dedicated to the hereditary prince Frédéric d'Anhalt-Dessau. The first two volumes alone in superb period bindings in full morocco, framed with gilded fillets on the boards, spine ribbed and ornamented caissons, A fine copy nonetheless, as copies bound in morocco for this title are all too rare. Numerous beautifully engraved plates and vignettes depicting various physiognomies. A fundamental work on the pseudo-science of physiognomy, Lavater remains the most emblematic author of the discipline. While Giambattista Della Porta contributed to the spread of physiognomony during the Renaissance, Lavater democratized it. impact, particularly throughout the Romantic 19th century: Dickens, Baudelaire, Balzac, George Sand, Stendhal, Chateaubriand etc. held this discipline in high esteem. all held this discipline in high esteem. In-4, (14) 294pp (2), (10) 404pp (2) Cohen, 606; Caillet, Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou occultes, II, 6231, Oehler, L'Art du papier découpé, cinq siècles d'histoire, p. 100 ("His book, entitled La Physiognomonie [...] earned him international recognition. This work [...] contains Lavater's immense collection of old and contemporary portraits"). Provenance: Label of Alexander Vucina of Odessa".