BRUYÈRES (Hippolyte). La Phrénologie, le geste et la physionomie démontrés par 120 portraits, sujets et compositions gravés sur acier. Innate dispositions. - Studies on expression. Application du système phrénologique à l'observation des caractères, aux relations sociales, à l'éducation, à la législation, à la domesticité. Paris: Aubert et Cie, 1847. - 1 volume in 2 volumes, in-8, half-calf havane with corners, spine ribbed and decorated, edges mottled (modern imitation binding). First edition of this illustrated phrenology by French painter Hippolyte Bruyères (1800?-1855). Strictly speaking, this work is not a scientific book, as phrenology was the subject of numerous studies at the time. The author's aim was "to spread as much as possible the knowledge of a science that offers such a degree of interest and usefulness. Considering phrenology to have almost reached a state of perfection, we wished to extend the circle of people to whom it could be explained and demonstrated, so as to interest them as a study and convince them of the possibility and usefulness of its applications in life and in the midst of the world..." (pp. 2-3). "We decided to undertake this kind of publication for phrenology, because we find that the works hitherto published do not contain in sufficient quantity the drawings intended to show with evidence the different forms of heads which result from the unequal development of the organs of the brain" (p. 5). The fact that this book was written by Hippolyte Bruyères, a painter rather than a scientist, is no coincidence. He was in fact the son-in-law of the German physiologist Johann Gaspar Spurzheim (1766-1832), who popularized phrenology and with whom he had the time to analyze and understand the science. The illustration consists of 90 plates featuring over 100 remarkable portraits, subjects and various compositions, all copper-engraved from the author's own drawings. The frontispiece represents phrenology symbolically, depicting the devil surrounded by 4 people and holding the face of one of them. The caption reads: "Phrenology. The Devil's Hand." A good copy bound in two volumes in a perfectly executed modern pastiche binding. Some light foxing and spotting.