Have you ever looked at a person’s face and immediately drawn conclusions about his or her personality or intelligence? Of course you have. In the 19th century, people even made a parlor game of it, using paper-doll-like faces, substituting different lips, ears, and noses, to often humorous effect.
While looking for paper dolls, this blogger discovered such an interactive device, called a physionotrace, on the Getty Web site. There, you can play with it and many other strange historical interactive Devices of Wonder like magic lanterns, chromotropes, thaumatropes, anamorphic images, and choreutoscopes. Plus, you’ll increase your vocabulary and impress your friends!
Image: Physionotrace, 19th century, England. Getty Research Library, Werner Nekes Collection, 93.R.118
