ABSTRACT
In the 1790s there were two major English translations of Johann Caspar Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy: Henry Hunter's translation, which followed the French translation Essai sur la physionomie and Thomas Holcroft's translation, based on J. M. Armbruster's abridgment of the first German edition. The appeal of the Holcroft translation was that it was much more affordable. It was published in octavo size and with fewer illustrations. Most of these illustrations, like those of the Hunter translation, originated from the French edition, which Lavater was working on when Armbruster abridged Physiognomische Fragmente. Most plates of Physiognomische Fragmente were engraved by Johann Heinrich Lips and Rudolf Schellenberg. Henry Fuseli contributed sparingly to Physiognomische Fragmente, but made a considerable contribution to the French edition, and most importantly, he added and helped to shape the English translation. While Lavater was revising Physiognomische Fragmente for the French translation, Fuseli produced several designs, eighteen of which were portraits.
