Sign-In
Cart
Decoding the Hand: A History of Science, Medicine, and Magic
Hardcover
Medical ReferenceSports GeneralPalmistry
Publisher Price: $35.00
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN10: 0226831159
ISBN13: 9780226831152
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: Dec 23 2025
Pages: 400
Weight: 1.75
Height: 1.22 Width: 6.33 Depth: 9.23
Language: English
ISBN13: 9780226831152
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: Dec 23 2025
Pages: 400
Weight: 1.75
Height: 1.22 Width: 6.33 Depth: 9.23
Language: English
Delightful.--Times Literary Supplement - Intriguing.--The Sydney Morning Herald - Fascinating, well-illustrated.--Nature - Altogether surprising and hard to categorise.--London Review of Books - There are many stories to be told here, and Bashford tells them well.--Literary Review
The astonishing history of palmistry and biometrics--from occult physicians to the very foundations of modern science and medicine.
Why did Isaac Newton read books on chiromancy, the occult science of hand reading that revealed the secrets of the soul? Why did Charles Darwin claim that the hand gave humans dominion over all other species? Why did psychoanalyst Charlotte Wolff climb into the primate cages of the London Zoo, taking hundreds of delicate palm prints? Why did Francis Galton, the father of fingerprinting, take palm prints too? And why did world-leading geneticists study the geometry of palm lines in their search for the secrets of chromosomal syndromes? Decoding the Hand is an astounding history of magic, medicine, and science, of an enduring search for how our bodily surfaces might reveal an inner self--a soul, a character, an identity. From sixteenth-century occult physicians influenced by the Kabbalah to twentieth-century geneticists, and from criminologists to eugenicists, award-winning historian Alison Bashford takes us on a remarkable journey into the strange world of hand readers, revealing how signs on the hand--its shape, lines, marks, and patterns--have been elaborately decoded over the centuries. Sometimes learned, sometimes outrageously deceptive, sometimes earnest, and, more often than we ever expected, medically and scientifically trained, these palm readers of the past prove to be essential links in the human quest to peer into bodies, souls, minds, and selves. Not only for fortune-telling palmists were the future and the past, health, and character laid bare in the hand, but for other experts in bodies and minds as well: anatomists, psychiatrists, embryologists, primatologists, evolutionary biologists, geneticists, and more. Drawing telling parallels between the divination promised by palmistry and the appeal to self-knowledge offered by modern genetic testing, Decoding the Hand also makes clear that palm-reading is far from a relic or simple charlatanism. Bashford's sagacious history of human hands touching and connecting opens wide the essential human pursuit of what lies within and beyond.Also from
Bashford, Alison
Also in
Palmistry
The Art and Science of Hand Reading: Classical Methods for Self-Discovery Through Palmistry
Goldberg, Ellen
Bergen, Dorian
Hardcover
$33.25
Palm Reading for Beginners: A Guide to Discovering Your Strengths and Decoding Your Life Path
Lagerstrom, Kenneth
Paperback
$11.39
The Tears of Things: Richard Rohr's Insight to Compassionate Living in a Broken and Hurting World.
Mitchell, Luke C.
Paperback
$17.99
Palmistry for Happiness: The Transformational Power of Vedic Hand Reading
Vallée, Guylaine
Birla, Ghanshyam Singh
Paperback
$18.99
The Palmistry of Fingerprints: The Secret Patterns Hidden in Your Fingers and Palms
Jones, Christopher
Paperback
$18.00
Face and Palm Reading: How to Read People Using Chinese Physiognomy and Palmistry
Silva, Mari
Hardcover
$31.34
The Art and Science of Face Reading: Face Morphology in the Western Spiritual Tradition
Lamonica, Jennifer
Paperback
$18.04
Palm Reading: Unlock the Secrets of Palmistry to Discover About You and Your Future
Silva, Mari
Hardcover
$28.49
Out of Your Hands: What Palmistry Reveals about Your Personality and Destiny
Greenaway, Beleta
Paperback
$14.20
Face and Palm Reading: How to Read People Using Chinese Physiognomy and Palmistry
Silva, Mari
Paperback
$18.01
Palmistry: Easy & Effective Techniques for Reading Palms (The Complete Guide to Palm Reading Diploma Course)
Fraley, Travis
Paperback
$18.95
Valmiki's Astropalmistry: The Hidden Code of Astrology and Palmistry within the Ramayana
Jain, Sulabh
Paperback
$39.94
Reading Hands for Health and Healing: Palm Diagnostics for Medical Conditions
Fincham, Johnny
Paperback
$41.93
Lectura de la palma de la mano: Desvele los secretos de la quiromancia para saber sobre usted y su futuro
Silva, Mari
Hardcover
$28.49
Palm Reading for Beginners: Your Future Revealed in the Palm of Your Hands
Lightheart, Clarissa
Paperback
$11.99
The Hand Reveals: A Complete Guide to Cheiromancy the Western Tradition of Handreading - Revised and Expanded Fourth Edition
Warren-Davis, Dylan
Paperback
$53.19
The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading: A Practical Treatise on the Art Commonly Called Palmistry
Benham, William G.
Hardcover
$79.94
Tarot for Beginners: A Practical Guide to Learning Psychic Tarot Card Reading and Understanding the Meanings
Welsh, Abigail
Keenan, Edson
Paperback
$13.82
The Art of Palm Reading: A Practical Guide to Character Analysis and Divination Through the Ancient Art of Palmistry
Bourne, David
Mendoza, Staci
Hardcover
$9.50
The Face Reading Handbook: A Practical Guide to Physiognomy Through Eyes and Eyebrows
Faisal, Mohd
Paperback
$15.59
The Power of Tarot at Your Palm: Learn Everything About Tarot, Tarot Cards And Fortune Telling
Knox, Heather
Paperback
$0.00
Destiny Palmistry Character Awareness: Recognize character through a mere glimpse of the hands
Puhakka, Sari Anitta
Paperback
$44.34
A Simple Handbook of Palmistry: A quick start guide to Kabbalistic Palmistry
Hadlock, James
Paperback
$17.96
Potential in the Palm of Your Hand: Reveal Your Hidden Talents Through Palmistry
Webster, Richard
Paperback
From $9.99
Dick's Mysteries Of The Hand, Or, Palmistry Made Easy: A Complete Treatise ... On The Art Of Divining Disposition And Destiny By The Characteristic To
Dick, William Brisbane
Hardcover
$39.94
Guide To The Study Of Graphology: With An Explanation Of Some Of The Mysteries Of Handwriting
Frith, Henry
Paperback
$22.44
Pendulum and Divination: A Comprehensive Guide to Pendulums, and Other Future Prediction Methods
Hill, Silvia
Hardcover
$28.49
Palmistry for All: Containing New Information on the Study of the Hand Never
Hamon, (Cheiro) Louis
Paperback
$26.19
Paganismo en Español: Descubre los Rituales, Tradiciones, Prácticas y mucho más
McGill, Karl
Paperback
$16.67
Palm Reading and Tarot for Beginners: A Complete Guide to Discover the Secrets of Palmistry and Tarot Reading
Hood, Rebecca
Paperback
$20.39
The Practice of Palmistry for Professional Purposes: The Practice Of Palmistry For Professional Purposes; Volume 1
De Saint-Germain, C.
Hardcover
$48.69
The Moon Telegrams - Volume one: Expand your life with supernatural and mystical knowledge
Morgan, Annaliese
Paperback
$4.99
Palmistry for All: Containing New Information on the Study of the Hand Never
Hamon, (Cheiro) Louis
Hardcover
$41.19
The Little Guide to Palmistry: How to Read Anyone's Unique Personality and Potential from Their Hands
Fincham, Johnny
Hardcover
$18.00
The Science of Regeneration or Sex Enlightenment: A Study of the Sacred Laws That Govern the Sex Forces
Advance Thought Publishing Company
Hardcover
$49.94
The Wheel of Fortune: A Study of Astrology, Graphology, Numerology, Dreams, Omens, Palmistry
Sepharial
Hardcover
$58.69
Palmistry Made Easy: Giving the Fundamental Principles in the Language of the Hand 1909
Gratz, Thomas D.
Paperback
$27.44
The Study Of Palmistry For Professional Purposes And Advanced Purposes
Saint-Germain, Comte De
Hardcover
$64.94
Chiromancy, or the Science of Palmistry: Being a Concise Exposition of the Principles and Practice of the Art of Reading the Mind
Frith, Henry
Allen, Edward Heron
Paperback
$33.69
The Study of Palmistry for Professional Purposes and Advanced Purposes
Saint-Germain, Comte De
Paperback
$49.94
The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading: A Practical Treatise on the Art Commonly Called Palmistry
Benham, William G.
Paperback
$67.44
Palmistry: A Comprehensive And Reflective Guide For The Human Design Of Hand Reading
Rochlin, Bharat M.
Paperback
$23.94
Palmistry: The Language of the Hands: Levels 1 and 2-Beginner and Intermediate
Hanna, Cassandria
Paperback
$21.11