Description
Allamand, Édouard; and Le Bon, Gustave. Archive of craniological drawings. France,
1878-1879. "An archive, including original folders with manuscript titles, composed of nine
groups, comprising: (1) an autograph letter, signed, from Édouard Allamand to Gustave Le
Bon, dated September 7, 1879, detailing the scope and techniques of his craniological
researches. Bifolium, with 3 pp. of legible cursive (in French); (2) a group of 154 drawings
of skulls from the collection of Gall-Dumoutier at the Muséum d'histoire naturelle, most of
them captioned--including 86 graphite drawings made with the stéréographe (on sheets
averaging 36 x 25 cm.) and another 68 pen drawings on tracing paper (25 cm. square); (3) a
manuscript checklist from Allamand, entitled "Crânes de la collection Gall Dumoutier à
dessiner au stéréographe;" (4) a large manuscript table from Allamand (bifolium, 31 cm.),
featuring a series of cranial measurements for 49 named examples; (5) a group of 40
captioned graphite drawings of head-casts (also from the Gall-Dumoutier collection),
executed with the diagraphe instrument to both recto and verso of sheets (approx. 36 cm.),
with minor flaking to a handful of sheets; (6) 120 captioned drawings from the skulls of
guillotined convicts, as displayed at the 1878 Exposition des Sciences Anthropologiques,
including 59 graphite drawings executed by stéréographe (32 cm.) and another 61 ink
drawings on tracing paper (25 cm. sheets); (7) a further 29 captioned ink drawings on
tracing paper (25 cm.), reproducing figures from the "Crania ethnica" of d'Armand de
Quatrefages and d'Ernest-Théodore Hamy (Baillière, 1872-1882), and accompanied by
manuscript reference sheet; (8) seven bifolia (35 cm.), containing dozens of bird's-eye-view
drawings of skulls, with manuscript title to first page reading "Chapelier de la Place de la
Bourse;" and (9) a copy of "Bulletins de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris. Tome
deuxième. IIIeme serie" (1879), which features an essay by Le Bon that relied upon
Allamand's research, "Sur la capacité du crane d'un certain nombre d'hommes célèbres"
(pp. 492-499)." -- Bookseller's description.