by Elsie Lincoln Benedict & Ralph Paine Benedict
The scarce personality determination self-help guide
East Aurora, NY: The Roycrofters, 1921. 7 volumes. Bound in publisher's side-stapled light green wraps printed in black; lacking the scarce original cardboard box. Near Fine with light fading and slight toning to covers and contents. Cover of volume I is creased with a small closed tear at the edge; volume VII has light markings to front cover. Included is a slightly toned tri-fold personality chart that lists associated assets and traits; initials written in pencil at the verso.
A scarce self-help guide intended to determine the assets and attributes of a individual's personality through physical traits. A precursor to constitutional psychology somatotypes developed in the 1940's and borrowing from 19th-century phrenology, these booklets evaluate a person's temperament through eye shapes, mouth curves, nose slopes, hand appearance, hair color, torso sizes and face shapes. The Benedicts offer to teach the reader how to recognize these physical types and understand their innate differences. For example, a person with Thoracic personality type has a "flushed complexion", a "quick temper" and is "charming" according to the Benedict's Law of Combinations. Someone who is determined to be Cerebral, or someone with a "larger than average forehead" is "self-sacrificing", "has none" when it comes to business assets and should "avoid speculation."
The suffragette turned motivational speaker was a pioneer in New Thought texts, laying the foundation for Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie. Affectionately coined "The Wonder Woman", and advertised as the world's best known lecturer, Elsie Lincoln Benedict spoke to over three million people in her lifetime. She was a millionaire by age 30 and drew a larger crowd than sitting President Wilson during the 1920 Human Analysis lecture series in Seattle, a testament to her universal appeal.