The Constitution of Man Considered in Relation to External Objects

Combe, George; [Phrenology]

Published by Fowler & Wells Co., Publishers, New York, 1891

About this Item

8vo. [5], vi-xx, 1-436, 12 (pages of publisher's advertisements), [2] pp. Brown blindstamped publisher's cloth with gold lettering and rules on the spine. Uncoated yellow endpapers and pastedowns. Illustrated with a frontispiece and with several in-text engravings (black and white). The publisher's advertisements are also illustrated, largely with diagrams demonstrating the "principles" of phrenology (including the pseudo-science's "reasoning" for why men and women have such different personalities or characters). Oxford DNB, L. S. Jacyna, "Combe [Comb], George (1788 1858)". A major figure in phrenology, Combe founded the Edinburgh Phrenological Society in 1820. Jacyna calls this book his most important and influential work, and records that it sold hundreds of thousands of copies throughout the nineteenth century. A contemporary signature on the free front endpaper, a later bookplate on the front pastedown, and a bookseller's stamp (Acres of Books from Long Beach, Calif.).

Seller Inventory # 000012982

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Constitution of Man Considered in Relation to External Objects
• Publisher: Fowler & Wells Co., Publishers, New York
• Publication Date: 1891
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Later edition.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Philosophy
  • Psychology