La phrénologie. Le geste et la physionomie démontrés par 120 portraits, sujets et compositions gravés sur acier [...].

4to: [4]-516-[3] pp. (some spotting throughout).

Contemp. quarter sheep, marbled paper on covers, spine with 5 raised bands (spine rubbed, def. at head and tail).

First edition. Illustrated with 90 engr. plates after drawings by the author showing 120 portraits. Bruyères (1800-1856) applies in this treatise the phrenological system, a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. Developed by the German physician Franz Joseph Gall in 1796 the discipline was influential in the 19th century, especially from about 1810 until 1840. Bruyères, painter and son-in-law of Dr. Spurzheim, a disciple of Gall, uses the theory to observe characters, social relations, education etc.
Ref. Wellcome II:259. - Caillet 1750. - Not in Bibl. Walleriana, Garrison & Morton.