I love looking through old things at flea markets. Especially old books. Especially old medical books. The basic form of a book has changed very little in the past hundred years, so it’s interesting to see what is different — illustrations instead of photographs, abandoned vernacular, early printing and binding techniques and how they held up over time. I’m most interested in the the attention to typography, though, and I thought this book had some interesting history inside.
How to Read Character: A Hand Book of Physiology, Phrenology & Physiognomy, Illustrated with a Descriptive Chart. They just don’t title them like that anymore. Phrenology was the psuedo-science of determining psychological attributes based on the shape of a person’s skull. The book was published in 1890 (and so, not surprisingly, the best-shaped skulls all belonged to civilized, God-fearing white men). Below are some spreads (click images for larger view).
