Fowler & Wells Portrait Posters for Physiognomy Lectures
Scope and Contents
A set of nineteen posters with 112 bust portraits depicting identified men and women, primarily authors, artists, scientists, monarchs, and religious and political leaders from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with a group of idealized heads illustrating characteristics identified by phrenologists, such as inhabitiveness and philoprogenitivenes. The portraits, or plates, were rendered in sepia ink and wash on paper, and were mounted on linen or canvas in groups of six; each set has wooden rods at each end to aid in hanging for display, and rolling for compact storage and travel. Each portrait or head is captioned with name of the sitter or the prominent character type portrayed. The posters were likely intended as exhibits supporting phrenology lectures.
Dates
- circa 1860
Creator
- Fowler & Wells (Attributed name)
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Fowler & Wells Portrait Posters for Physiognomy Lectures is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Ian Brabner, Bookseller, on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2011.
Extent
19 boxes (111 drawings on 19 posters)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
A set of nineteen posters with 112 bust portraits depicting identified men and women, primarily authors, artists, scientists, monarchs, and religious and political leaders from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with a group of idealized heads illustrating characteristics identified by phrenologists.
Biographical / Historical
Fowler & Wells, American practical phrenologists in the mid-nineteenth century, and creators and publishers of illustrative charts, diagrams, and posters for use by lecturers on physiognomy and phrenology. Based in New York, the firm also had offices in Boston, Philadelphia, and London.
- Abdülmecit, Sultan of the Turks, 1823-1861 -- Portraits
- Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848 -- Portraits
- Adams, John, 1735-1826 -- Portraits
- Alexander, Pope, VI, 1431-1503 -- Portraits
- Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626 -- Portraits
- Benton, Thomas Hart, 1782-1858 -- Portraits
- Bridgman, Laura Dewey, 1829-1889 -- Portraits
- Brooks, Preston S. (Preston Smith), 1819-1857 -- Portraits
- Brutus, Marcus Junius, 85 B.C.?-42 B.C. -- Portraits
- Bryant, William Cullen, 1794-1878 -- Portraits
- Bunyan, John, 1628-1688 -- Portraits
- Burr, Aaron, 1756-1836 -- Portraits
- Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824 -- Portraits
- Caldwell, Charles, 1772-1853 -- Portraits
- Caligula, Emperor of Rome, 12-41 -- Portraits
- Campbell, Alexander, 1788-1866 -- Portraits
- Collins, John, 1811-1874 -- Portraits
- Copernicus, Nicolaus, 1473-1543 -- Portraits
- Cromwell, Oliver, 1599-1658 -- Portraits
- Decatur, Stephen, 1752-1808 -- Portraits
- Diocletian, Emperor of Rome, 245-313 -- Portraits
- Drawings (visual works) -- United States -- 19th century
- Edwards, Jonathan, 1703-1758 -- Portraits
- Elizabeth, Queen of England, I, 1533-1603 -- Portraits
- Forrester, Fannie, active 19th century -- Portraits
- Fowler & Wells
- Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria, I, 1830-1916 -- Portraits
- Frederick William, King of Prussia, IV, 1795-1861 -- Portraits
- Fulton, Robert, 1765-1815 -- Portraits
- Galilei, Galileo, 1564-1642 -- Portraits
- Gorchakov, Aleksandr Mikhaĭlovich, kni︠a︡zʹ, 1798-1883 -- Portraits
- Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872 -- Portraits
- Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell, 1788-1879 -- Portraits
- Harvey, William, 1578-1657 -- Portraits
- Henry, Patrick, 1736-1799 -- Portraits
- Herschel, William, 1738-1822 -- Portraits
- Howard, John, 1726-1790 -- Portraits
- Humboldt, Alexander von, 1769-1859 -- Portraits
- Hume, David, 1711-1776 -- Portraits
- Irving, Washington, 1783-1859 -- Portraits
- Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 -- Portraits
- Knox, John, approximately 1514-1572 -- Portraits
- Kościuszko, Tadeusz, 1746-1817 -- Portraits
- Lamartine, Alphonse de, 1790-1869 -- Portraits
- Lind, Jenny, 1820-1887 -- Portraits
- Livingston, Robert R., 1718-1775 -- Portraits
- Luther, Martin, 1483-1546 -- Portraits
- Madison, James, 1751-1836 -- Portraits
- Martineau, Harriet, 1802-1876 -- Portraits
- Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542-1587 -- Portraits
- Melanchthon, Philipp, 1497-1560 -- Portraits
- Monroe, James, 1758-1831 -- Portraits
- Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 1791-1872 -- Portraits
- Napier, Charles, 1786-1860 -- Portraits
- Neal, Joseph C. (Joseph Clay), 1807-1847 -- Portraits
- Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount, 1758-1805 -- Portraits
- Newton, Isaac, 1642-1727 -- Portraits
- Osgood, Frances Sargent, 1811-1850 -- Portraits
- Ömer Lûtfi Paşa, 1806-1871 -- Portraits
- Perry, Oliver Hazard, 1785-1819 -- Portraits
- Peter, Emperor of Russia, I, 1672-1725 -- Portraits
- Pélissier, Aimable-Jean-Jacques, duc de Malakoff, 1794-1864 -- Portraits
- Phrenology -- United States
- Physiognomy -- United States
- Pollok, Robert, 1798-1827 -- Portraits
- Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744 -- Portraits
- Posters -- United States -- 19th century
- Putnam, Israel, 1718-1790 -- Portraits
- Raglan, FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, Baron, 1788-1855 -- Portraits
- Raphael, 1483-1520 -- Portraits
- Red Jacket, Seneca chief, approximately 1756-1830 -- Portraits
- Sewall, Thomas, 1786 or 1787-1845 -- Portraits
- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 (Portraits)
- Smith, Sydney, 1771-1845 -- Portraits
- Socrates -- Portraits
- Spurzheim, J. G. (Johann Gaspar), 1776-1832 -- Portraits
- Staël, Madame de (Anne-Louise-Germaine), 1766-1817 -- Portraits
- Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874 -- Portraits
- Swedenborg, Emanuel, 1688-1772 -- Portraits
- Tyndale, William, -1536 -- Portraits
- Voltaire, 1694-1778 -- Portraits
- Washington, George, 1732-1799 -- Portraits
- West, Benjamin, 1738-1820 -- Portraits
- Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850 -- Portraits
- Title
- Guide to the Fowler & Wells Portrait Posters for Physiognomy Lectures
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- by Beinecke Staff
- Date
- 2014
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.