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Thanks to all who entered our recent giveaway of three signed copies of our new book Death: A Graveside Companion , our new, heavily illustrated magnum opus documenting the variety of ways humankind has come to terms with, imagined, visualized and pictured death. In the spirit of the book, we asked Morbid Anatomy readers to share an image of their favorite artwork or artifact illustrating the intersections of death and beauty, and to tell us about the piece and why they chose it.  It was very difficult to choose between all the wonderful and imaginative entries, but a bove are the three images we chose, submitted by--from top to bottom--Instagram user @dagger_of_the_mind , J. Moriarty and Lynn Duenow. The first image is "Revelation: The Vision of Death," one of 241 illustrations created by Gustave Doré for a deluxe illustrated bible known as La Grande Bible de Tours in 1866. This image was chosen by @dagger_of_the_mind , who said of it "The Artist's command of...

We are very sad to report the death of the wonderful Mervyn Heard. A rare pairing of scholar and showman, he was a genius of the magic lantern, ghost shows and phantasmagoria, and was a contributor to our recent book Death: A Graveside Companion . He was also a friend and will be sorely missed. This video by the über-talented Ronni Thomas captures he and his passion exceptionally well. RIP, Mervyn. You shall be missed and remembered.

We are delighted to announce a give away of three signed copies of our new book Death: A Graveside Companion , a nearly 400 page compendium of 1,000 images and 19 essays exploring a variety of ways in which humankind has come to terms with, imagined, visualized and pictured death. In the spirit of the book, we are asking Morbid Anatomy readers to share an image of their favorite artwork or artifact that illustrates the intersections of death and beauty, and to tell us--in no more than 3 sentences--about the piece and why they chose it.  Entries must be received by midnight on Sunday, November 19th; the three winners will be picked and announced here soon after. PLEASE NOTE: Due to shipping costs, contest only eligible to those in the USA. There are three ways to enter this contest. Share in the comment section of this Facebook post Post on Instagram with the hashtag #deathbookgiveaway Send it via email to morbidanatomylibrary [at] gmail [dot] com . Can't wait to see what you com...

We would like to wish a festive happy birthday to Death: A Graveside Companion --the new book by our founder Joanna Ebenstein--whose official US release date is today! You can order a copy of this epic book which explores, via over 1,000 images and 19 essays, humankind's attempts attempts – mythological, scientific and popular – to imagine, respond to, or find meaning in the mystery of death here . Image from the book: Ivory Memento Mori by an unknown maker from c. 1640. In the 16th century, the memento mori --or objects created to urge the viewer to contemplate their mortality--moved from the church or the cemetery to the home, with the creation of artworks and objets d’art such as this one. It shows a skeleton standing among symbols of earthly glory, highlighting the futility of vanity and worldly pleasures. More on the book follows. Hope you enjoy! Death: A Graveside Companion Edited by Joanna Ebenstein, Foreword by Will Self Featuring the Richard Harris Art Collection Thame...

To celebrate All Souls Day today, I asked former Morbid Anatomy Museum artist and scholar in residence Shannon Taggart to write a guest post about her long term project documenting spiritualism, a religion in which devotees attempt to communicate with the souls of the dead. Shannon is working on a book showcasing this body of work now; titled SÉANCE: Spiritualist Ritual and the Search for Ectoplasm, it will feature her own photographs along with many incredible antique spiritualist photographs. The foreword will be written by actor Dan Aykroyd (creator of the movie Ghostbusters and fourth-generation Spiritualist) and it will contain essays by artist Tony Oursler (author of the incredible Imponderable ), writer Constance DeJong and cultural critic Erik Davis . To find out more (and pre-order a copy of your own), click here . Shannon also wrote a chapter about spiritualism and photography for our new book Death: A Graveside Companion . More on that can be found here . Spiritualism is...

In commemoration of All Saints Day, we share with you one of our all-time favorite pieces of Catholica related to the cult of the saints. Called a Corpus Sanctus, it is a life-sized effigy of Saint Vittoria (or Victoria ) crafted of wax with human hair and a wreath of flowers. It contains relics related to the saint in the form of her teeth and finger bones. Relics like these are believed to have miraculous powers, usually related to healing. This piece can be seen today in Rome's Santa Maria della Vittoria , directly across from that Bernini's masterwork The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa . Photos by our founder Joanna Ebenstein.