Item #61529 The Empire of Death. A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses. Death, Ossuaries.

The Empire of Death. A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses.

London: Thames and Hudson, 2011. First Edition. Hardcover. Quarto. 224pp. Gilt decorated black boards with inlaid "death" illustration, gilt lettering to spine, index, 290 colour and b&w photographs, printed endpapers. This copy INSCRIBED and SIGHT by the author on the half title page. From the publisher: "The sites in this specially photographed and brilliantly original study range from the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Palermo, where the living would visit mummified or skeletal remains and lovingly dress them; to the Paris catacombs; to fantastic bone-encrusted creations in Austria, Cambodia, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and elsewhere. Koudounaris photographed more than seventy sites for this book. He analyzes the role of these remarkable memorials within the cultures that created them, as well as the mythology and folklore that developed around them, and skillfully traces a remarkable human endeavor." Very light shelf rubbing else a lovely clean near Fine copy (no dust jacket issued). Oversized, heavy book - may require additional shipping US Domestic and will require additional shipping for international orders. Item #61529
ISBN: 9780500251782

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