Collected Works of Charlotte Wolff – serie

Charlotte Wolff (1897-1986) was born in Riesenburg, West Prussia (now Prabuty, Poland) into a middle-class Jewish family. She studied philosophy and then medicine at several German universities, completing her doctorate in Berlin in 1926. Working in various institutions over the next few years, she was also interested in psychotherapy and had a small private medical and psychotherapeutic practice. In 1933 she was forced to leave Germany because of the Nazi regime, and settled for a few years in Paris. As a German refugee she was unable to practice medicine, so she began her research into the correlation between hand traits and personality. In 1936 she went to London to continue her research work and lived there until her death. An active lesbian from an early age, her later research turned to sexology and her writing on lesbianism and bisexuality were influential early works in the field. This is a great opportunity to rediscover her early work, including her first autobiography.

Originally published in 1942, this book was very different from anything else written about the psychology of hands. The author had worked amongst apes and monkeys at the zoo, patients in what at the time were called ‘mental hospitals’, and amongst all manner of men, women and children. The results of her research are found here where she looks at how the hands link to the brain and ultimately our personality. A pioneer in this field the author continued her research in this area for a number of years. A fascinating glimpse into early personality psychology.

Originally published in 1945, this title was a follow-up to the author’s previous book The Human Hand. This time she looks at the psychology of gesture and its relation to personality. The special place that a psychology of gesture merits is obvious. It permits a direct knowledge of personality without any effort or misleading co-operation on the part of the subject, since it can be applied without his being aware of the fact. The book ‘is constructed on a system of clinical studies and medico-psychological interpretations.’ The author felt that this title must be regarded as a complementary study to her main studies.

Originally published in 1951, this title looks at the study of the hand in relation to psychological diagnosis. This was at the time a new branch of psychology and the author is keen to point out it must not be viewed as perfect or indeed complete. Practical experience and a deeper understanding of psycho-motor phenomena had altered some of the author’s theoretical views since the earlier titles. This book builds on and extends her previous research, including new research studies particularly on children who were at the time termed ‘mentally defective’. It was designed to contribute some new diagnostic possibilities to psychology and psychiatry. Today we can enjoy it as part of psychology’s history.

Originally published in 1969, Dr Charlotte Wolff was the author of three books of psychology: The Human Hand, A Psychology of Gesture and The Hand in Psychological Diagnosis. This book, though it contains much psychology, is not of the same scientific kind as these. It is an autobiography, but not one of the normal kind. It is the history of a mind, not the chronicle of a life. For this reason it is not arranged chronologically but it is constructed round what the author called the creative shock experiences of her life, some of which belong with their consequences rather than with events adjacent in time. The resulting book is one of imaginative psychology. In the course of a life which began on the borders of Poland and carried her to Germany, France, Russia and England, Dr Wolff had met and known many of the most famous writers, artists and thinkers of the time. In Germany she studied under the founding Existentialists, Husserl and Heidegger; in France she carried out psychological research under Professor Henri Wallon and was also assisted by the Surrealists, André Breton, St. Exupéry, Paul Eluard; in England she was aided in her work by Sir Julian Huxley, Aldous Huxley and his wife, Dr William Stephenson, Dr Earle and others. But Dr Wolff’s earliest creative work was as a poet, and though she turned to psychology, her interest in art brought her into touch at different times with Ravel, Virginia Woolf, Bernard Shaw, Lady Ottoline Morrell, Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Baladine Klossowska and many more. Dr Earle wrote of her that she is ‘an artist of psychology’, and it is thus that she appears in this odd and fascinating book. Today it is an interesting glimpse in to the life of an early feminist psychologist. Her later research focused on sexology, her writing on lesbianism and bisexuality were influential early works in the field.

Originally published in 1942, this book was very different from anything else written about the psychology of hands. The author had worked amongst apes and monkeys at the zoo, patients in what at the time were called ‘mental hospitals’, and amongst all manner of men, women and children. The results of her research are found here where she looks at how the hands link to the brain and ultimately our personality. A pioneer in this field the author continued her research in this area for a number of years. A fascinating glimpse into early personality psychology.

Originally published in 1945, this title was a follow-up to the author’s previous book The Human Hand. This time she looks at the psychology of gesture and its relation to personality. The special place that a psychology of gesture merits is obvious. It permits a direct knowledge of personality without any effort or misleading co-operation on the part of the subject, since it can be applied without his being aware of the fact. The book ‘is constructed on a system of clinical studies and medico-psychological interpretations.’ The author felt that this title must be regarded as a complementary study to her main studies.

Originally published in 1951, this title looks at the study of the hand in relation to psychological diagnosis. This was at the time a new branch of psychology and the author is keen to point out it must not be viewed as perfect or indeed complete. Practical experience and a deeper understanding of psycho-motor phenomena had altered some of the author’s theoretical views since the earlier titles. This book builds on and extends her previous research, including new research studies particularly on children who were at the time termed ‘mentally defective’. It was designed to contribute some new diagnostic possibilities to psychology and psychiatry. Today we can enjoy it as part of psychology’s history.