Johan Caspar Lavater - Brieven aan Jongelingen - 1820

Johan Caspar Lavater - Letters to Young Men - Amsterdam, Johannes Aariksen, 1820 - 144 pages - 21 x 13 cm

Condition: reasonable
Bound in the original binding with marbled boards. Damage along the spine. Good book block and neat pages. Sometimes slight yellowing or foxing. The work is complete.

wikipedia:
Johann Kaspar Lavater (Zurich, 1741 - there, 1801) was a Swiss philosopher, preacher, and poet. He is perhaps a descendant of Ludovic Lavater.

Biography
Lavater studied theology at the Collegium Carolinum in Zurich. There, he met fellow student Johann Heinrich Füssli, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. In 1762, the two, along with Felix Hess (1742-1768), wrote a pamphlet against the corruption of a local dignitary. The scandal caused by this pamphlet forced Lavater to leave Zurich. Together with Füssli and Hess, he traveled to Berlin. In 1764, Lavater was able to return to Switzerland. He became a pastor in various churches.

Physiognomy
Lavater became famous for his writings on physiognomy, the science of reading a person's character from their appearance, especially their face. His extensive, beautifully illustrated work, Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe (1775-1778), made physiognomy a popular form of science. This work was translated into many languages, including Dutch in 1780, and was widely disseminated. Today, physiognomy is considered pseudoscientific.