Physiognomy

Long before modern personality research, Johann Caspar Lavater, a Protestant pastor from Zurich, took up the old question of whether a person's face and bodily form reveal their character. In this work he examines physiognomy, the belief that outward features mirror inner temperament and moral disposition, and he illustrates his observations with engraved portraits. Lavater writes as a moralist as well as a theorist, hoping that close attention to other people's faces will sharpen our understanding of them and deepen our compassion for them. This edition reproduces the original text, restored page by page to match the earlier printing as closely as possible.