Aphorisms on Man. Translated from the original manuscript of the Rev. John Caspar Lavater, citizen of Zuric. Second edition.

LAVATER, Johann Caspar.

Verlag: Printed by T. Bensley, for J. Johnson, St Paul's Church-Yard. 1789, 1789

Beschreibung

viii, 224pp, half-title., engraved frontispiece designed by Fuseli and engraved by William Blake. 12mo. Half-title creased. Nineteenth century half calf; chipped morocco spine label, later endpapers & pastedowns. Early name of John Allen at head of titlepage. ESTC T137191. First published in 1788. A second volume of the 'Vermischte Unphysiognomische' was published in 1788, but was not translated into English. The work is dedicated to his friend Henry Fuseli, 'I give you liberty not only to make improvements, but to omit what you think false or unimportant'. The Advertisement notes that 'it is the intention of the editor to add another volume. not indeed by the same author [but by Fuseli], which the reader may expect in the course of the year'. Fuseli's Aphorisms were destroyed by a fire at the printers, and were not published until Knowles's edition of Fuseli's works appeared in 1831. G.E. Bentley, Blake Books 480. Lavater's Aphorisms on Man was published to prepare the British public for his Essays on Physiognomy (1789-1798), and it is Fuseli who most probably added the crucial final aphorism: 'If you mean to know yourself, interline such of these aphorisms as affected you agreeably in reading, and set a mark to such as left a sense of uneasiness with you; and then show your copy to whom you please'. The directions were followed, and the most famous copy of this work is that annotated by William Blake. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 95488

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Aphorisms on Man. Translated from the ...

Verlag: Printed by T. Bensley, for J. Johnson, St Paul's Church-Yard. 1789

Erscheinungsdatum: 1789