Handbooks and the work of interpreting character
Baughan’s life is documented chiefly through her books and correspondence. By 1887 George Redway’s publisher’s catalogue advertised her Handbook of Physiognomy and a revised fourth edition of The Handbook of Palmistry. It linked the latter to her earlier writing on handwriting. The notices present an author already established in several related ways of interpreting character.
An undated November letter from 44 Queens Road, Bayswater, gives a smaller glimpse of her working routine. Writing to Miss James, she described weekly packets and a backlog of handwriting studies which she processed in date order. Her work thus included individual readings as well as published manuals. Details of her family and education remain less securely documented than this professional activity.
Keeping astrology inside the study of the hand
The Influence of the Stars brings astrology, chiromancy and physiognomy into one volume. In the preface dated March 1889, Baughan argues against writers who keep the planetary names for the mounts of the hand while denying their astrological meaning. To her, removing mysticism distorted the tradition she wanted to preserve. Her opening chapters likewise defend astrology as an art requiring long study and judgment.
Lumitheca holds the 1891 London edition, published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner with nine plates. Its Wheel of Pythagoras reproduces a design dated 1657, connecting the handbook’s appearance to the older lore claimed by its title. A later 1904 edition was revised and enlarged by Baughan. Throughout, she treats bodies and planets as signs through which character and fate can be interpreted.
