•  Adams P238, P239, P246 (1560 ed. only), P243; Brunet, IV, 356. Contemporary vellum-covered boards, spine with inked title; vellum slightly soiled, with spine title faded. All edges stained blue. First title-page mounted and several leaves with outer margins or upper outer corners reinforced, two pages with loss of a few letters at upper outer corners. Second play lacking two preliminary leaves and final register leaf. Two leaves with annotations in an early inked hand, now faded; pages with intermittent mild waterstaining.

"Porta's system . . . leads him constantly to conclusions of analogies between plants, animals and men. Similar humours are found in various apparently unrelated organisms. Plants and animals that correspond in shape are interrelated. A leaf formed like a stag horn shares the character of the deer. The horse is a noble animal, therefore it is a sign of nobility to walk erect with the head held high. Men who resemble a donkey are like that animal: timid, stupid, nervous. He who looks like an ostrich is akin to it in character: he is timid, elegant, vicious, stolid. A man who reminds us of a swine is a swine, eating greedily and having all the other characteristics, such as rudeness, irascibility, lack of discipline, sordidness, lack of intelligence [and] modesty. In a similar way, men who look like ravens are impudent; those who resemble oxen are stubborn, lazy, irascible; men who have lips shaped like those of a lion are hearty, magnanimous, courageous; others who make us think of a ram are timid, malicious and humble. When practising medicine, Porta had many occasions to observe his patients, and to study their character and complexion; the results of this studious inquiry are laid down in his book." (Seligmann)

This work was written in Latin and first published in 1586 under the title De humana physiognomia. It saw 19 editions before 1701, and has been translated into Italian (1598; translation by Salvatore Scarano), German (1651), French (1655), and English (1817). This tenth Italian edition is replete with a large number of intriguing (and humorous) woodcuts. The first is a portrait of Porta, and, while some of the rest show anatomical figures, the vast majority contrast the shapes of faces and bodies of animals and men. The title-page vignette is of Aesculapius, the Greco-Roman god of healing.

Appended to Della fisionomia humana are the Fisionomia naturale of Giovanni Ingegneri († 1600), the Physionomia of Polemon (ca. a.d. 88 – a.d. 145) in an Italian translation, Porta’s Della celeste fisionomia (a repudiation of astrology), and two short related treatises by Livius Agrippa and Luigi Settala (1552–1633). Della celeste fisionomia has a number of interesting woodcuts showing pagan gods and constellations.

•  Seligmann, The History of Magic, 319. On physiognomy, see: Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, VII, 448 & following. On Porta, see: Webster’s New Biographical Dictionary 811. Vellum over paste boards, soiled and cockled with a little chipping and front joint opening. Ex-library: paper labels on spine and rubber-stamps, including one on title-page. Pages cockled with traces of soiling on top edges; a few edges bumped. Plates in very clear, strong impressions.

•  Original paper wrappers, spine with hand-lettered paper label. Early inked owner’s inscription on front free endpaper; one early inked shouldernote. Some pages with faint hint of foxing, most clean. A very good copy.

Only three copies were located in the United States.

Provenance: Charles Spencer, Third Earl of Sunderland, lot 10361 in the Sunderland Library sale (1882), with Sunderland coat of arms gilt on each cover.

•  Sprinkled calf, panelled, with double gilt fillets and noted supra-libros. Spine with five raised bands, gilt, and gilt floral device in each compartment; gilt board edges. The whole somewhat worn, with joints starting. Paper library labels on spine and front cover; eight pages including title with old library pressure-stamps. All edges stained red. Lower corner of p. 121 torn away with no loss to text. An interesting copy of an elegant production, with Sunderland supra-libros still bright.

Rare: No U.S. holdings traced via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, or RLIN.

•  Contemporary half vellum with green marbled-paper sides; rubbed with loss to paper on edges and total loss of vellum over corners. Spine divided into compartments by black rules and with black-lettered title. Endpapers lightly browned and a brittle with a little chipping. Some light foxing, soiling, and waterstaining; inked ownership inscription on front free endpaper.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 4994. Contemporary treed sheep, rubbed; joints cracking and front cover of vol. 2 with a small circular patch in similar leather; back covers of all volumes stamped by a now-defunct institution, spines with 19th-century paper shelving labels, and pastedowns with old library bookplates. Pages foxed and with old waterstaining. A very few stray pencil marks; first signature of vol. I partially separated.

The title-page here has a most striking xylographic printer's device depicting a man looking up at the moon. The work is also decorated with a number of handsome, rather unusual woodcut historiated initials and headpieces. The text is in italic and roman with sidenotes.

Provenance: “D.M. Armstrong / Venice 1872.”

•  Not in Adams. Limp vellum with indications of lost ties; soiled, stained, and cockled with some holing (a natural hole in the vellum of the rear cover is repaired by sewing). Front fly-leaves with some holing and chipping, partially repaired with paper. Pages lightly waterstained and cockled with some shallow dog-earing, a little shallow tattering, and some browning and soiling, usually on the edges. Inked ownership inscription on front fly-leaf.

Uncommon.  Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 locate only five U.S. holdings of this item.

•  Contemporary vellum, spine with early inked title; volume widely sprung, vellum slightly dustsoiled, spine title faded. One leaf with short tear from outer margin, with loss of one or two letters; one leaf with tear from lower margin, extending into text without loss; one leaf with lower outer corner torn away, with loss of five letters. Pages slightly age-toned, with ink blotch to reverse of title-page, otherwise clean.

A Roman edition also appeared in 1694, the year of the work’s first appearance; the present edition is more uncommon: We trace only one U.S. library copy of it.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, VII, 1079. Boards covered in music-printed paper from an 18th-century antiphonal, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page and one other stamped by a now-defunct institution. Light spotting throughout, more pronounced to first and last few leaves; some corners dog-eared.

•  Publisher's light boards with gray printed d/j.  (24175)

•  Bitting 117 (second ed.); Cagle 1132 (first ed. of Davini only); Osler, Biblotheca Osleriana, 2428 (first ed.); Vicaire 250 (second ed.); not in Hünersdorff, Coffee. Contemporary vellum, darkened, with a few pinholes of insect damage and some minor spots of staining. Title-page with inked ownership inscription in Latin, dated 1728. Pages a bit cockled, with edges darkened; most mildly to moderately foxed.