
A whimsical, Victorian‑era meditation on the shape of the human nose, this work treats the humble nose as a portal to personality, culture, and even destiny. The author adopts a mock‑scholarly tone, complete with footnotes, prefatory woes, and playful citations of imagined authorities, inviting listeners to wonder whether a Roman nose truly signals stoic resolve or a Greek profile hints at philosophical bent. The opening chapters catalog a parade of nasal types—from the lofty “cogitative” nose to the cheeky “snub” and the lofty “celestial”—each described with a blend of earnest observation and tongue‑in‑cheek speculation.
Beyond the taxonomy, the book offers sly commentary on the social quirks of the mid‑nineteenth century, peppered with literary nods that echo the humor of classic satirists. Listeners will enjoy the gentle mock‑seriousness of a narrator who treats noses as if they were the key to unlocking human nature, all while keeping the tone light, witty, and delightfully eccentric.
Language
en
Duration
~5 hours (307K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Richard Tonsing, deaurider, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2021-02-08
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

d. 1873
Best remembered for the wonderfully odd Victorian classic Notes on Noses, this 19th-century writer mixed satire, curiosity, and literary playfulness in a way that still feels surprisingly fresh. Behind the pen name was George Jabet, a Birmingham solicitor whose most famous book gently mocked the era’s craze for reading character from physical features.
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