Victorian Book of the Dead

"Chris Woodyard digs through long-buried newspapers and journals for this fascinating look at the 19th-century obsession with the culture of death. The Victorian Book of the Dead unearths extraordinary tales of Victorian funeral fads and fancies, ghost stories, bizarre deaths, mourning novelties, gallows humor, premature burial, post-mortem photographs, death omens, and funeral disasters. Packed with macabre anecdotes, this diverting, yet gruesome collection presents tales ranging from the paranormal and shocking to the heartbreaking."- Kestrel Publications

The Victorian Book of the Dead includes: 

• mourning bicycles, black boudoirs, and sable cigarettes for the up-to-date widow
• visions of the Grim Reaper and the Angel of Death
• the widow who fired the undertaker who wouldn't give her trading stamps
• a girl who died of lizards
• the fiendish parrot who murdered his mistress
• Professor Segato's petrified corpse furniture 
• exploding coffins and premature burials
• interviews with undertakers, post-mortem photographers, and morgue attendants
• And many more long-lost tales of the morbid, mournful, and macabre from the Victorian era. 

Chris Woodyard, paperback, 343 pages