La Physionomie raisonnee ou secret curieux

Lyon: Mathieu Liberal, 1681. Contemporary mottled calf (scuffed, tail of spine chipped), spine and label gilt, edges sprinkled red. Old pen trials on the pastedowns and flyleaves. Minor dampstaining and some lower corners gnawed. A genuine copy. Second edition of this handbook of physiognomy. Written over a century before Lavater’s landmark book on the subject, this little-known text purports to identify vices, virtues, and intellect based on such features as hair color, finger length, and nose proportions. Couched in humoral theory and Galenic physiology, it instructs the reader to intuit people’s personality traits based on physical appearance, walking gait, laughter, and speech. A handy table at the end of the book is divided according to desirable characteristics, with a list of the physical qualities that portend them along with text concordances.

Dorbon 2411; see Caillet 5874.