Chirologia

We have a beautiful book by John Bulwer called Chirologia: or the naturall language of the hand. Composed of the speaking motions, and discoursing gestures thereof. Whereunto is added Chironomia: or, the art of manuall rhetoricke. Consisting of the naturall expressions, digested by art in the hand, as the chiefest instrument of eloquence. 

Born in London in 1606, Bulwer was a physician who adopted a girl called Chirothea, who was possibly deaf. His lost book Glossiatrus was “the first monograph on speech disorders ever written.” “Chirologia is often cited as Bulwer’s link to later Deaf studies because it focuses on hand gestures which have come to be seen as the domain of deaf communication. In fact the book only mentions the deaf in passing”, says the entry on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bulwer

My real excuse for posting this today is however the picture below from one of the illustrations in the book – Adoro – which needs no translation on 14th of February.

Adoro