General  Information:

• • Pinterest: The Costumer: Theatrical Makeup History
  • Cosmetics & Skin: 
    • Greasepaint,
    • Eyelash Beading ,
    • Water Cosmetique (Mascaro)
  • Theatrical Cosmetics: Making Face, Making “Race”
  • Russian Bibliography of Early Stage Makeup Books 1872-1933 (Mostly Russian, but other countries as well)
  • Wikipedia; Gas Lighting: Theatrical Lighting
  • Vintage Powder Room (primarily street makeup info and packaging from 1900-1950s)

Physiognomy

Physiognomy is a Psudo-science that was “studied” by 19th and Early 20th century actors and makeup artists to improve their study of faces.  Unfortunately, the mid 19th & early 20th Century books on this fake “science” in these eras existed primarily to promote racist, sexist, and xenophobic views which trickled into the designs of stage makeup.  Racists worldwide continue to cite this nonsense to “prove” superiority to groups and individuals they hate.

• 1793 Essays on Physiognomy; for the promotion of the knowledge and the love of mankind by Johann Caspar Lavater 
• 1866 Comparative Physiognomy : or, Resemblances Between Men and Animals by James W. Redfield
• 1867 New Physiognomy: or, Signs of Character by Samuel Wells
• 1873 An original and illustrated physiological and physiognomical chart by Joseph Simms
• 1905 Physiognomy : how to read character in the face and to determine the capacity for love, business, or crime by Leila Holt Lomax

17th & 18th Century Theatrical Makeup

• Theatrical Colours: Cosmetics, Rhetoric and Theatre in Webster’s The White Devil
• La Commedia dell’Arte:
  • Cosmetics and Makeup

  • 17th and 18th Century Stage Makeup

1820s Theatrical Makeup

• 1827 The Road to the Stage by Leman Thomas Rede

1830s Theatrical Makeup

• 1836 The Road to the Stage by Leman Thomas Rede (Revised and Improved)

1850s Theatrical Makeup

• 1851 The Amateur, Or Guide to the Stage, Containing Lessons for Theatrical Novices … By a Retired Performer

1860s Theatrical Makeup

• 1866 The Amateur’s Hand-book and Guide to Home or Drawing Room Theatricals by Tony Denier

1870s Theatrical Makeup

• 1871 The Amateur’s Hand-book and Guide to Home or Drawing Room Theatricals by Thomas Hailes Lacy
• 1875 A Practical Guide to Private Theatricals… by An Old Stager (Charles Milward?)
• 1876 Burton’s Amateur Actor, a Complete Guide to Private Theatricals by C. E. Burton
• 1877 How To Make-Up; A Practical Guide for Amateurs &c by Haresfoot & Rouge
• 1879 Acting and Oratory:  Designed for Public Speakers, Teachers, Actors, Etc by Joseph Edwin Frobisher (see pgs. 392-393 describing makeup)

1880s Theatrical Makeup

• 1880 De Witt’s How To Manage Amateur Theatricals
• 1880 Amateur Acting by J. Keith Angus
• 1880 Dazian’s Catalog of Theatrical Goods, Costumer’s Supplies, Regalia, Church & Military Trimmings, Society Goods, Etc. W. Dazian
• 1881 Amateur Acting by J. Keith Angus
• 1881 Private Theatricals, Being a Practical Guide for the Home Stage,  by An Old Stager, with pictorial suggestions for scenes, after designs by Shirley Hodson. by Orville Augustus Roorbach
• 1882 The Actor’s Art by Gustave Garcia
• 1882 Frobisher’s make-up book. A complete guide on the art of making-up the face for the stage. Including directions for the use of wigs, beards, mustaches, and every variety of artificial hair, etc. by Frobisher, J. E. (Joseph Edwin)
• 1882 Theatricals and Tableaux Vivants by Charles Harrison
• 1888 Helmer’s Actor’s Make Up Book by N. Helmer
• 1888 The Art of Making-up for Public and Private Theatricals by Charles Henry Fox

1890s Theatrical Makeup

• 1890 Theatricals; Or the Art Of Making Up by C.H. Fox (Photos and drawings of actors in wigs by C.H. Fox with notes on makeup application)
• 1890  Amateur Theatricals; A Practical Guide for Amateur Actors by Charles F. Townsend
• 1891 Private Theatricals by Charles F. Townsend
• 1892 Die maske des schauspielers praktische anleitung in der kunst sich zu schminken by Friedrich Altmann
• 1895 The Peterson Magazine v. 106 p. 731-742. The Actor and His Makeup
• 1898 Hageman’s Makeup Book by Maurice Hageman
• 1899 Wehman’s Makeup Book, or, Guide to the Stage, by Charles F. Townsend
• 1899 How to Get on the Stage, and How to Succeed There by Leopold Wagner

1900s Theatrical Makeup

• 1900 Dick’s Makeup Book by H.B. Dick & Fitzgerald
• 1900 The Actor’s Manual and Handbook : Containing Useful Information for Amateurs and Professionals by Chicago Manuscript Co.
• c. 1900 The Makeup Book for Professionals, F. W. Nack
• 1901 The Art of Make-Up by Edith Davids
• 1901 How to “Make-Up” a Practical Guide for Amateurs and Beginners by S. J. Adair Fitz-Gerald  (also available here)
• 1903 Leichner-Album; 150 Characterköpfe für die Bühne
• 1903 Jacques Buck’s Buhnenkopf (1919 reprint) with handwritten notes in English & Finnish
• 1904 A Guide to the Stage by Austin Fryers
• 1904 Amateur Theatricals, A Practical Guide by  C. Lang Neil
• 1905 Making Up, A Practical and Exhaustive Treatise on This Art, by James Young
• 1909 The Art of Theatrical Makeup by Cavendish Morton (also available here)
• A SIDE NOTE: I designed makeup for the DVC production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood using the highligted books above, and the actors did their best to follow my designs. SEE THEM HERE!

1910s Theatrical Makeup

• 1910 Das Schminken in Theorie und Praxis (Makeup in Theory and Practice) Berlin
• 1910 Das Schminken (as above at HathiTrust)
• 1910 L’art de se maquiller & de se grimer par Adelphy Brachart
• 1914 L’art de se grimer 3rd ed. by Adolphe Brachart
• 1914 The Spatula v. 21 p. 597, Drug Store Theatrical Goods
• 1915 Illustrated catalogue of papier mache, linen, wax, wire, gauze, show and curtain masks, noses, wigs, beards, etc by American Mask Manufacturing Company
• 1918 The Midland Druggist and Pharmaceutical Review, v. 52, n.1, p. 262-263 Theatrical Make-up — An Excellent Side Line
• c.1919 How To Make-Up Published by the M. Stein Cosmetic Co, New York
• 1903 Jacques Buck’s Buhnenkopf (1919 reprint) with handwritten notes in English & Finnish
• 1918 Kumadori Secrets of the Ichikawa Family (Kabuki Makeup)
• 1919 Denison’s Makeup Guide For Amateurs and Professionals 
• 1919 Das Schminken by Zimmermann
• Silent-ology: Silent Film Makeup: What Was It Really Like?
• Cosmetics and Skin: Early Movie Makeup

1920s Theatrical Makeup

• c.1920 Zauder Bros. Catalog of Theatrical Society and Boudoir Hair Goods
• 1921 The Singer and His Art by Thaddeus Wronski
• 1921 An Illustrated Catalog of Theatrical Wigs, Together with a Few Hints on Makeup, A. Rothe, Boston
• 1925 The Art of Make-up, For the Stage, Screen and Social use, by Helena Chalmers, Illustrated by the Author
• 1926 Denison’s Makeup Guide for Amateur and Professional
• 1927 The Art of Make-up, for the Stage, the Screen, and Social use, by Helena Chalmers illustrated by the author (2nd Edition)
• Makeup in Early Hollywood by Lani Barry (History of Makeup Final Paper 2011)

1930s Theatrical Makeup

• 1930s Pamphlets: Max Factor’s Hints on the Art Of Makeup
• 1930 Хрестоматия актера. Мимика. Грим. Движение. Речь. (The Actor’s Reader: Mimicry. Makeup. Motion. Speech.)
• 1936 Paint, Powder and Makeup; The Art of Theatre Makeup From the Amateur and Classroom Viewpoint by Ivard Strauss
• 1938 The Last Word in Make-up (Makeup Encyclopedia) by Dr. Rudolph G. Liszt

1940s Theatrical Makeup

• 1940 Stage Make-Up for Amateurs Published by The Chicago Park District
• 1940 A Practical Guide to Makeup, by N.M. Novlyanisky, Moscow/Leningrad Izkustva (Art) Press