Windows of the Soul: Physiognomy in European Culture 1470-1780 (Oxford Historical Monographs) by Martin Porter
In late fifteenth century Florence, Renaissance humanists rediscovered a secret, natural language hidden in the visual wisdom of the proverb ‘the eyes are the windows of the soul’. Through its magical prism, the language of eyes, faces, voices, laughs, walks, even stones, plants and animals, all became windows into the souls of other people, of oneself, of nature, and ultimately of God. Some saw in its words the perfect hieroglyphic language by which Adam had first named nature, which, when combined with the art of memory, could bring about a form of ‘inner writing’ or mystical self-transformation. Yet many others dismissed it as a collection of arbitrary conventions, superstitious enigmas, or ‘gypsy’ riddles.
Embroiled in the religious persecution of the Reformation, rejected as a science during the Scientific Revolution, in the age of Enlightenment physiognomy came to be seen as nothing more than an amusing entertainment. But with the dawn of Romanticism, be it in the realms of science, religion, or poetry, some began to see that physiognomy was no game and the flame of serious interest in physiognomy was once again rekindled. Combining book history and visual history, Dr Porter reconstructs this physiognomical eye, interprets the way in which books on physiognomy were read and traces the wider intellectual, social, and cultural changes that contributed to the metamorphosis of this way of beholding oneself and the natural world from the Renaissance to the dawn of Romanticism.
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Physiognomy by John Clubbe (1763)
Essays on Physiognomy (Edition 17) by Johann C Lavater (Translated by Thomas Holcraft)
The Mind in the Face: An Introduction to the Study of Physiognomy by William McDowall (1882)
The Encyclopedia of Face and Form Reading by Mary Olmstead Stanton (1919)
Physiognomy Made Easy by Annie Isabella Oppenheim (1900-1910)
The Annuals of Phrenology and Physiognomy from 1865 to 1873 by O S Fowler (1882)
How to Read Character in Features, Forms, and Faces by Henry Frith (1891)
Text Book of Humanology by John Bryce Adams (1922)
Profiles in Oriental Diagnosis: The Renaissance by Alex Jack
Mysteries of Vedic Face Reading by Hrishikesh Dubey
Face Reading: How to Know Anyone at a Glance by Barbara Roberts
The Practical Art of Face Reading by Simon Brown
Face Reading Plain Simple: The Only Book You’ll Ever Need by Jonathan Dee
Amazing Face Reading: An Illustrated Encyclopedia for Reading Faces by Mac Fulfer
Face Reading in Chinese Medicine by Lillian Bridges
Mian Xiang – Discover Face Reading: Your Guide to The Chinese Art of Face Reading by Joey Yap
Face and Palm Reading: How to Read People Using Chinese Physiognomy and Palmistry by Mari Silva
The Ultimate Guide to the Face Yoga Method by Fumiko Takatsu
Face Reading: Sage’s Key to Character Reading by Ormsby
Descriptive Mentality from Hand, Face and Head by Holmes Whittier Merton (1899)
Sex and Astrology (Horoscope, Palm and Face) (Author Unknown)
Saral Samudrik Shastra Face Reading (मुखाकृति विज्ञान) by Arun K Bansal (Hindi)
Reading Faces – Window to the Soul? (New Directions in Social Psychology) by Leslie Zebrowitz
How to Read the Head and Face by H Ellis Foster (1903)
Astrological Body Types: Face, Form and Expression by Judith A Hill
Revelations of the Face by L N Fowler (1903)
Your Face mirrors Fortune by R G Rao
Palmistry, Physiognomy and Phrenology: True Guide for a Perfect Marriage by Eugene Hitchcock
Palmistry, Physiognomy Natural Astrology by John Indagine and Kim Farnell (1683 Translation)
A Concordance on Graphology and Physiognomy (1900) by R D Stocker