Books about death, mortuary science, funeral traditions, and Victorian mourning.

Victorian Book of the Dead

The Victorian Book of the Dead by Chris Woodyard
The Victorian Book of the Dead by Chris Woodyard explores historical accounts of exploding corpses, petrified corpse furniture, a man who lived in his wife’s tomb, ghosts, banshees, and other bizarre true tales of Victorian mourning.
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199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die

199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die by Loren Rhoads
A hauntingly beautiful travel guide to the world’s most visited cemeteries, told through spectacular photography and their unique histories and residents.
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Understanding Cemetery Symbols

Understanding Cemetery Symbols
A guide to the meanings behind the symbols found on gravestones.
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Death: A Graveside Companion

Death: A Graveside Companion by Joanna Ebenstein
Edited by Joanna Ebenstein, Death explores the intersection of art and death through over 1,000 images, many never published before, created throughout the centuries as humanity has struggled to understand and rectify death through morbid beauty.
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Beyond the Dark Veil

Beyond the Dark Veil post-mortem photography
Beyond the Dark Veil is a collection of post-mortem and mourning photography from The Thanatos Archive, along with newspaper clippings and other ephemera documenting death and funerals in the Victorian Era.
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Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Stories from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
Mortician Caitlin Doughty takes you inside the crematorium and pulls back the curtain to demystify death.
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Rest in Pieces

Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses
In Rest in Pieces, author Bess Lovejoy tells true stories of grave robbing, missing brains, cadaver brandy, and other misadventures undertaken by the corpses of famous people.
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Stiff

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
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Heavenly Bodies

Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs
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The Invention of Murder

The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
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From Here to Eternity

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
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Death: An Oral History

Death An Oral History
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Memento Mori: The Dead Among Us

Memento Mori The Dead Among Us by Paul Koudounaris
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Death and the Afterlife

Death and the Afterlife: A Chronological Journey, from Cremation to Quantum Resurrection
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The Empire of Death

The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses
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Funerals to Die For

Funerals to Die For: The Craziest, Creepiest, and Most Bizarre Funeral Traditions and Practices Ever
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Mortuary Confidential

Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers Spill the Dirt
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The Strange Case of William Mumler

The Strange Case of William Mumler, Spirit Photographer
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Confessions of a Funeral Director

Confessions of a Funeral Director by Caleb Wilde
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The Apparitionists

The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost
The story of how spirit photographer William Mumler captured America’s imagination in the wake of the death and tragedy of the Civil War by photographing grieving family members with apparitions of the dearly departed.
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