Essai Sur La Physiognomonie Destiné, A faire Connoître l'Homme & à le faire Aimer
Essai sur la physiognomonie is a 1784 French-language study of facial character by Johann Caspar Lavater, with Dutch co-contributors Jacobus van Karnebeek, Isaac van Cleef and Hendrik van Teeckelenburgh, aimed at general readers who wished to know and like people. Its pictures are profile silhouettes of heads cut from dark textured paper and pasted onto pale pages, shown in sharp side views with the features and collar outlined. A designer could take their simple, strong edge contours and the period idea of reading character from the outline of the face.
