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Title: Signaletic Instructions, Including the Anthropometrical Identification
Author: Alphonse Bertillon
Publisher: The Werner Company
Printing Year: 1896

Condition/Details: Bound in brown broads with three quarter leather and gilt embossing, this antique volume is a scarce English translation of Bertillon's work on methods of measuring features of the human anatomy. According to the title page, the work is illustrated with "132 figures, plates and tables, fully illustrating the Bertillon methods of measurement, description and statement of peculiar marks, including a large chromolithographic chart of the colors of the human eye". The work includes three fold-out illustrations.

Alphonse Bertillon (April 24, 1853 - February 13, 1914) was a French police officer and biometrics researcher who created anthropometry, an identification system based on physical measurements. Anthropometry was the first scientific system used by police to identify criminals. Before that time, criminals could only be identified based on unreliable eyewitness accounts. The method was eventually supplanted by fingerprinting, but "his other contributions like the mug shot and the systematisation of crime-scene photography remain in place to this day." (courtesy of Wikipedia)

The ex-library volume shows some external age/wear, and is lacking the top two inches of the spine cover, with a tear along the spine approximately two inches down from the lacking portion. The text block is solidly bound with clean pages. The book measures approximately 6.5" x 9.25" and contains 260 pages, with 81 pages of plates and a 35 page index. Shipping cost (within the U.S.) for this lot will be: $4.50