Phrenology, in Connexion with the Study of Physiognomy. Illustration of Characters. With Thirty-Five Plates. To Which Is Prefixed a Biography of the Author by Nahum Capen. Also, a Broadside, a Copy of pp. 136-37 of Text of Biography, Resolves of the Boston Medical Society.

Illustrated. Lithographs (drawn by B.F.N.) by Annin Smith & Co.) 168.191 pp. 8vo. Broadside: 9-1/2? H x 5-5/8?W Green publisher's clloth. Printed paper label on spine. Blue paper broadside. Refs.: AmImp 21343. Groce & Wallace, Dict. Artists in America, pp. 11, 474, 497-8. Spurzheim (1776-1832). was a German physician, who, with F. J. Gall, invented the field of phrenology, divining personal characteristics from the examination of the skull. It was based on the theory that behaviors were represented by areas of the cerebral and cerebellar cortex, areas reflected externally by irregularities of the skull. Both Gall and Spurzheim made models of skulls to reflect their concepts; Spurzheim's models were less abstruse and more useful to the layman. Initially co-workers, Gall and Spurzheim fell out over what the latter perceived as insufficient credit to him for important ideas in their work. Spurzheim traveled much in France, Germany, Britain and finally to America, lecturing widely. He was very popular here, but contracted what apprears to have been typhoid fever and died in Boston. His brain, heart and skull were preserved and displayed to the public. A monument was erected in his honor in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Although phrenology was proven to be based on erroneous concepts, its ideas had a major influence on nineteenth century education, neurology, and criminology. This is the first edition of Spurzheim's major work in English. Nahum Capen (1804-86), the author of Spurzheim's included biography. was a Boston publisher who, after meeting Spurzheim in 1832, became converted to Phrenology, edited "Annals of Phrenology" and other related works. He was postmaster of Boston and is credited with inventing the outside letter box collecton system, the first such in America. Includes a note by Nahum Capen bound in with Report of Spurzheim's Visit to a Prison and Comments on Blacks. This erratum slip by Capen is bound in before the index to the biography of Spurzheim, clarifying the details of a visit by Spurzheim to the Hartford Asylum. On pp. 136-37 of the biography is the report of a series of resolutions passed at a special meeting of the Boston Medical Association expressing their appreciation for his visit, respect for his research and his work for human improvement, their finding the death of Spurzheim to be a calamity to mankind and to America, the resolve to communicate their sense of loss to his European friends and relatives, the determination of the Association to attend his funeral declaring their respect and appreciation for his contributions to education and improvement of the human mind. These resolves were reprinted verbatim as a small blue broadside, which is quite rare, acquired separately, but laid into this volume. William B. Annin and George G. Smith were noted Boston engravers, especially of maps and views; B. F. N. is likely Benjamin F. Nutting (before 1813-1887), the noted portrait painter and lithographer. He was a fellow apprentice with Nathaniel Currier at Pendleton's lithography studio in Boston ca. 1828-33. Mild wear at ends of spine and in front hinge. Abrasion of covers. Paper label chipped. Closed partial tear of leaf 39-40, but pages complete. A few small spots of foxing. Else a Very Good copy.