Beyond the Veil

<P><B><I>Beyond the Veil </I>is a visual tour through the curious history of how we deal with death—the grief and mourning, the funerals, symbols, and ceremonies.  </B><br> <br>From <B>Victorian England</B> across to the <B>US</B>, learn about the often peculiar and at times macabre ways of how the living memorialize the dead. <br> <br>Humans have always had ways of marking death, but in Victorian England death became a morbid obsession that went global—death was as much ‘celebrated’ as it was a source of fear and sadness. Queen Victoria herself became a figurehead of grief after the death of her beloved Prince Albert in 1861. Her ensuing<B> fascination with death</B> took many visual forms—from her ritualized embrace of black clothing to the building of ostentatious monuments—and massively <B>influenced cultural norms</B> in both the UK and further afield. <br><br>The Victorians built complex cemeteries, collected precious memento mori, commissioned bizarre death portraits, and obsessed over the correct mourning attire and funerary protocol, while turn-of-the century America saw reflections of many of these cultural phenomena. The bestsellers of the period were often about life and death (think <I>Frankenstein </I>and <I>Dracula</I>), while the<B> art, architecture, and style—</B>with its often dark and heavy gothic overtones—revelled in the glamorization of death.<I> Beyond the Veil</I> brings this extraordinarily <B>elaborate and stylised visual culture</B> together while expertly explaining and elaborating on its most <B>peculiar and fascinating</B> aspects. <br><br>For example, it explores: </P><ul><li>The influence of<B> Queen Victoria’s personal mourning</B> on fashion and social custom.</li><li>The rise of <B>Victorian cemeteries and funerary architecture</B>. </li><li>The art of <B>memento mori and post-mortem photography</B>. </li><li>The emergence of <B>spiritualism, seances and afterlife communication</B>. </li><li>The fascination with <B>gothic literature, symbolism</B> and the<B> romanticization of death. </B></li></ul><P><br>Beautifully illustrated throughout with archival photography, artworks and design,<B></B><I>Beyond the Veil </I>is a must-have for<B> lovers of history, art, and the macabre. I</B>t invites readers to step into the shadows of the past and discover how Victorian mourning shaped our modern relationship with grief and remembrance.</P>