Graphologie, La. Journal des autographes.
L'Art de Juger les Hommes par Leur Ecriture. Feuille hebdomadaire consacree aux curieuses revelations de la Graphologie.
Graphology is to the secret movements of the soul what photography is to the lines of the face
1871--1872? Weekly
Paris, France. Language: French. Editor: Jean Hippolyte.
1/1, November 18, 1871-1872(?) 4 pp., 8 francs a year.

The editor, "Jean Hippolyte," was a priest Jean-Hippolyte Michon (1806-1881) and archeologist who had learned graphology (a term pioneered in this journal) in the seminary and went on after leaving the priesthood to write a series of anti-clerical novels and to advocate a form of "Protestant-Catholicism" in opposition to what he conceived as the too-conservative views of the Catholic Church. Hippolyte's work is universally held to be the foundation of modern "scientific" graphology. Each issue of the journal was adorned with a plate of a notable French dignitary of the period (divided into four sections: literary men, religious men, men of the theater, and "men of the eccentric world") and samples of his handwriting, with analysis. Women's handwriting also was analyzed, including that of George Sand. The journal touted the fact that "Each subscriber would receive free on demand the diagnosis of his character, by sending a stamped envelope and about 10 lines of his natural writing, neither too strict nor too casual." The journal was devoid of any explanation of the mysteries of graphology, but it did carry an advertise a new book of 500 pages by Adolph Desbarrolles and Jean Hippolyte, Le Livre des Mystères de l'ecriture that appeared in 1872 and ran through several editions. The most curious feature of the journal is that, with the exception of the masthead, the entire journal is handwritten in a very clear block letters that reveal an obsessive character. BNF.

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