Books and Manuscripts

Cardano, (Girolamo)
Medici Mediolanensis Metoposcopia Libris Tredecim, et Octingentis Faciei Humanae Eiconibus Complexa...
Paris: Thomas Jolly, 1658. First edition. 4to. (iv), viii, 225, (7) pp. Profusely illustrated with in-text and full-page woodcut facial diagrams. Full contemporary vellum, titled in contemporary manuscript on spine and bottom edge; all edges trimmed; lengthy contemporary inscription on front free endpaper; foxing to prelims and scattered throughout text; some text leaves toned; small repairs in fore-edge, pp. 19-48; rear paste-down starting from vellum. 

First edition of Italian physician and mathematician Girolamo Cardano's (1501-76) treatise on metoposcopy—a form of divination that interpreted one's personality and predicted one's future through a reading of the lines or wrinkles on the forehead. First written in 1558, Metoposcopia was posthumously published, and is the first full-length treatment of the practice, which dates to antiquity. Related to palmistry, Cardano claimed to identify seven horizontal planes on the forehead that corresponded with astrological alignments, and when taken into account with other physiognomic traits—such as the presence and placement of moles—as well as age, education, and one's horoscope, he claimed to be able to make predictions about a persons' future. 

An uncommon curiosity from this eccentric Renaissance figure.