Essays on physiognomy; for the promotion of the knowledge and the love of mankind / Written in the German language by J.C. Lavater. Abridged from Mr. Holcroft's translation.
Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy, abridged by Thomas Holcroft from the German of Johann Kaspar Lavater, printed in London in 1793 by G.G.J. and J. Robinson for a general readership interested in reading character from faces. Its plates are oval engraved head studies numbered in sequence, many labelled with temperament names such as Phlegmatic, Choleric, Sanguine and Melancholic, arranged in grids of six per page. A designer might take the compact oval framing, the strong profile silhouettes and the expressive caricature range of hairlines, noses and brows for character portraits.
