Beyond the Dark Veil: Post Mortem & Mourning Photography from The Thanatos Archive

Excellent book with high quality photographs!

A beautifully bound and put-together book. With its gold edged pages, the photos are tastefully presented with text explaining what may have happened to the deceased. I do not have any regrets about purchasing this particular book to go with my other same-subject books. Not for everyone, but definitely for those who have a curious interest in the deceased and the presentation of corpses for the family and loved ones. It seems in the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, people had a different outlook about death. They embraced it and knew it was something that would eventually come, either naturally or by illness. I know people today who honestly believe they are going to live forever. This book will help you realize your mortality. Well done.

I love this, its exactly what i wanted. It arrived on time. Its exactly as described. And in fabulous condition. A little smaller then I exactly but its a nice and sturdy book. I know its not for all people but I love history, the Victorian era and photography so its up my alley. Thanks!

I absolutely love this book. I'm buying it as a gift for someone, which makes me sad. I might have to buy myself a copy to keep. If you aren't familiar, momento mori is (I think) Latin and means "remember that you have to die". The Victorians were using the fairly new medium of photography to do something that no one in history had done before: Keep their loved ones with them for eternity. Thankfully, the book is divided into sections. Memento mori was most popularly used with dead children, so you can skip that chapter if it makes you uncomfortable. There's also a chapter on adults and pets. This book is beautifully compiled, excellently written, and delves into the Victorian fascination with death. Absolutely love it.

The quality of the book is outstanding. I wish there was more ingo for the pictures but the ingo probably has been lost to time. Definitely happy with the purchase.

The pictures are wonderful and the added commentary really helps to understand why certain practices came about. The only issue I had, and at this point it's more just nitpicking than anything, was that one of the pictures, the one about the entire family being murdered except for the baby girl, was too big for the page. The commentary noted that the killer was in the photograph (before they knew he was the killer) and he was marked with an "x" above his head. Because of the size of the picture, he was located almost in the crease of the book. If i hadn't properly opened and stretch the books' binding, I'm pretty sure it could have broken trying to find this guy in the crease. Also, it wasn't mentioned but the baby girl that survived had an "x" on her gown. Like I said, this is just nitpicking and only occurs on one picture. I would definitely buy it again.

I was so excited to finally get this book! I was tired of squinting at the computer screen and looked forward to looking at all the interesting details of the pictures. The pictures are still detailed and interesting- but they are actually smaller then on the screen. MUCH smaller. It would have been SO much better if the pics were bigger- tho there are a very few page size. Also better if there were more contrast- they had lightened the pics and not made the background black so they kind of fade into them. The font size is somewhere around -6. So muchly disappointment size wise but not content wise. The cover is lovely- the embossing and gold title are very nice. It is about 1/2 the size I expected all the way around- but it is still a neat book. Be warned- while you will enjoy the feel of it and the pics and info- you may well need a magnifier of some kind to truly see the details. I am not sure if I would have purchased it knowing how small everything is- but I will still enjoy it :)

The Burns collection is huge, many thousands of photos from the 19th century. From that collection, this book offers many post mortem and some of individuals just before death. Lovely volume, nicely bound. Creepy subject matter, but this gives a window into the very difficult world of the Victorians, where mortality was very much a part of life. In the 19th century, any woman could reasonably expect to loose at least one child, as there was something like a one in five mortality rate for children. No vaccines, little to no understanding about the process of disease and how they spread...people dies young. This volume provides a really important historical context for the way the Victorians perceived their world. Death was a huge part of life in the 1800's, and this provides that context using pictures in a way that words might never do.

Libro davvero molto curato, lo si può notare già dalla qualità della copertina in simil-pelle con il bordo delle pagine dorato, ma è il contenuto ad essere davvero magnifico (pur essendo l'argomento trattato piuttosto macabro): foto di ottima qualità che risaltano sulle pagine dallo sfondo nero, e interessanti le didascalie e gli approfondimenti (in inglese) sull'usanza di fotografare i defunti. Insomma, acquisto consigliatissimo!

Was für ein gelungenes Buch! Jedem der sich für Post-Mortem-Fotographie und/oder Eigenheiten des viktorianischen Zeitalters interessiert, sei es wärmstens empfohlen. Optisch ist das Buch so düster wie sein Thema, absolut hochwertig gestaltet (Kunstleder mit Prägung und Goldschnitt, kompakte Seiten) mit qualitativ guten Fotos von denen jedes kurz dokumentiert wird. Zudem sind die längeren Texte die tiefer in die Thematik einführen sehr gelungen und einfühlsam geschrieben. Das Buch hat absolut nichts mit billigem Elends-Voyeurismus oder drittklassiger Horrorliteratur zu tun, sondern gibt einen Einblick in die Trauerrituale und dem Umgang mit dem Tod einer längst vergangenen Ära, in der er viel allgegenwärtiger war als wir es heute gewohnt sind. Gerade deshalb kann das Buch, vielleicht besonders das Kapitel über Kinder, für manchen sicherlich auch befremdlich wirken.

１８００〜１９００年代の海外で、死に行く家族、また、 亡くなった家族の最後の姿を写した写真を集めた本です。 （主にアメリカかな、洋書なので） 棺やベットに横たわり、今まさに今生での生を終えた 家族を見送る前に、最後にもう一度その姿を留めておく為に 写した写真は、今の時代に見ると寂しさや悲しさよりも 美しさの方が勝る気がします。 特に親にとって幼い子供が死にゆく様は受け入れがたい 現実であるにちがいないけれど、その我が子の愛らしい姿を いつまでも忘れないためにも、声をかけたらすぐに目を覚ましそうな姿で 写真におさまっている子供達は愛らしいというより神々しい感じがする。 古い写真のせいもあって、写されている写真すべてが美しく神秘的だ。 もちろん、成人やペットの横たわる写真もあるが、時代と文化の違いもあり、 それらを見ているととても不思議な気持ちになる。 死ぬとどうなるとか、死ぬという事は等、 オカルト的な事や、宗教的な内容ではないので、 そういう事を求める人は買わない方がいい。 ただ、こういう風に人が亡くなって行く姿を改めて今の時代に見ると、 こんなにキレイなのものなのかなぁと思う、なにかそういう不思議な 気持ちになる本なのだ。 本のつくりもすごくキレイだ。ずっしりした黒い本体に、 金色のインクでタイトル等が印刷されている。 どういう事に興味がある人にすすめたらいいか等よくわからないけど、 家族が亡くなっても今のようにデジタルで鮮明な写真が写せる時代とは違い、 深い哀しみも黄昏時のように感じられる、一瞬でも日々の喧噪を忘れてみたい、 そんな人・・・・一度手に取ってみてはいかがでしょうか。

Cómo debemos expresar el dolor por la perdida de un ser querido? Como llenar el espacio vacío donde antes hubo amor, risas, abrazos y vida? Como sentirnos acompañados nuevamente de nuestros seres queridos que han dejado este mundo? En los años 1800, tenían una idea muy distinta a toda concepción lógica: la fotografía post mortem.

A very attractive book hiding a much darker subject. A fabulous look into the art of pre and post mortem photography. It's a topic which has interested me for a very long time so I was thrilled to add this book to my collection.