A new illustrated hand-book of phrenology, physiology and physiognomy
A nineteenth-century English handbook on phrenology and physiognomy, published in London in 1878 by H. Vickers under the name of R. B. D. Wells, aimed at general readers interested in reading character from the head and face. Its pictures are small wood-engraved portraits of men and women in profile and three-quarter view, with dense hatched shading on hair, cheeks and collars that a designer could draw on for vintage portrait studies, Victorian character typologies or period engraving texture.
