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@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 20, 2026, 1:51 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead 1909, "a modest mourning hat."
"Here’s a mourning hat—becoming, fashionable and attractive. Would you blame her if, despite the customs of the past, she refuses to cover her face and hide her pretty hat with the heavy disfiguring veil?"

Photograph of a model wearing a high-necked black bodice and a tall, tiered hat with a slanted brim and rabbit ears and bows of crape on top.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 1:54 PM

#NationalDanceDay #TheVictorianBookoftheDead
Danse Macabre, Franz Fielder, c. 1910-1919
www.papilio.cz/en/auction/7...

Misty photograph of woman in filmy draperies attached to her head and hands, dancing with a skeletal figure of Death.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 1:38 PM

Avast, me hearties, it's #InternationalTalkLikeaPirateDay
The red color of this 18th century Jolly Roger flag signified that no lives would be spared if the captured ship did not surrender.
www.bbc.com/news/uk-engl...
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead

Rectangular, textured red flag with appliqued, padded skull and crossbones. Pirate flag from the 18th century.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 18, 2026, 3:37 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead
Silk gauze mourning fan with an ebony monture and floral lace appliqués and edging, indicating less-than-deep mourning. It is painted with a coronet. c. 1880-1890.
n2t.net/ark:/38652/R...

Black silk fan appliqued with floral lace, with floral lace edging. Black sticks and guards. Painted with a silvery-grey coronet.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 18, 2026, 3:24 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Black enamelled mourning lapel watch with writhing snake brooch holder, Tiffany & Co., early 20th c.
www.metmuseum.org/collection/t...

Silver watch enameled with black labeled Tiffany & Co. It is suspended on a black enameled writhing snake brooch.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 18, 2026, 3:19 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Mourning handkerchief, linen with faux-pleated edging trimmed with black scallops and black corners embroidered with white dots.
Early 20th c.
www.metmuseum.org/collection/t...

Ivory linen handkerchief with printed or embroidered pleats, black corner pieces embroidered with white dots. Black scalloped edging.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 18, 2026, 1:20 PM

#ForteanFriday The first chapter in #TheVictorianBookoftheDead is on personifications of Death. Here we meet a Reaper-like Death Angel, who discusses, in a weirdly bureaucratic way, the persons who are to be taken.
hauntedohiobooks.com/news/death-a...

Yellowish image of a skeletal winged death carrying off a weeping woman in white with long hair. A cloak billows around Death.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 17, 2026, 2:13 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Velvet was not a fabric allowed for first adult mourning, but it was thought appropriate for children's mourning. This black velvet suit was worn by Travers Buxton, age 6, on the death of his mother in 1871.
www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/658375

Photograph of a three-piece suit of black velvet, 1871, worn by Travis Buxton in mourning for his mother. Breeches, a waistcoat, and a jacket.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 17, 2026, 2:02 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Mrs William Notman Senior, in mourning for her husband, who died in 1867, photographed by her son, 1871. Narrow crape rouleaux trim her skirt and bodice. She wears a widow's cap with long lappets.
collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/1...

Photograph of an elderly woman in an elaborate setting with an upholstered chair with tasseled trim and framed by draperies. The woman wears a black dress trimmed with ruffles on the long skirt. She also wears a white widow's cap with long lappets, tied under the chin. One hand holds a letter on a small desk or table or lectern behind a lace curtain.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 17, 2026, 1:50 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead 1871 widow snark:
A little ten-year-old miss told her mother the other day that she was never going to marry, but meant to be a widow, because widows dressed in such nice black, and always looked so happy.

Fashion plate showing a woman in a peach-colored dress with ruffles on the skirt and sleeves, a large white collar with a blue bow, and a lacy white cap with blue ribbons. The woman holds out a picture to a little boy in a black knickerbocker suit, holding his hat. Next to the boy is a woman in widow's clothing--an elaborate black bustle dress, a mantle with scalloped edges, a bonnet and veil down the back. She is sniffling into a handkerchief. Presumably the picture is of her late husband or some other close relative.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 16, 2026, 2:25 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Models in two mourning hats, 1905.
Black straw with tulle, dull jet beads and a black aigrette.
Dull black silk and pleated chiffon, jet beads and black aigrette.

Photograph of model in a high-necked black blouse, wearing a flat mourning hat of straw, tulle, jet beads and feathers. 1905

Photograph of model in a high-necked black blouse wearing a hat covered with sprays of pleated fabric and a cocked, beaded, element. 1905

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 16, 2026, 2:17 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Men's burial suits advertised in National Styles Dry Goods Catalogue of burial clothing from the National Casket Company, 1905. These were cut up the back for easy dressing and made in a variety of fabrics.
blog.library.si.edu/blog/2016/10...

Black and white illustrations of men's burial suits, showing them worn by living men. The text reads: No. 1008 Sack Suit Fine quality Broadcloth. Can be used buttoned or unbuttoned as desired.
1008-0 Broadcloth.
1008-233 Cashmere.
1442-15 Broadcloth.
1442-S Serge.
1450-65 Cheviot
1489-J Diagonal.
No. 198—Cutaway Suit
Fine quality Serge. This style is not made to button.
198-S Serge.
198-15 Broadcloth.
160-Broadcloth.
163-4 Broadcloth.
198-233 Cashmere.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 16, 2026, 2:10 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Funeral flowers sent by his fellow workmen for Daniel Devinney, who died 16 September 1905. The Gates Ajar is marked "Fellow Workmen. A wreath says: "Only Asleep." The harp reads "Daniel" An arc says: "Our Brother IBEW" [International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.]

Black and white photograph of a collection of funeral flowers arranged around a photo of the deceased while alive, framed in flowers. There is a gates ajar arrangement marked "Fellow Workmen", a harp, marked "Daniel", a cross and crown, a wreath that reads "Only Asleep" and an arrangement marked "Our Brother IBEW" - International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 15, 2026, 12:30 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead
Onyx-set mourning brooch, c. 1870s The japanning or lacquer on the chain seems to be wearing off.

Mourning brooch of gold set with a rectangular section of onyx flanked by small circles of onyx. Beneath the rectangle a long oval drop of onyx is suspended on a blackened chain.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 15, 2026, 12:27 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Hariot Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Dowager Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, wearing mourning for her husband who died in 1902.
As Vicereine of India she led a movement to provide medical care for women by women and to train women doctors. Imperial War Museum

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 15, 2026, 12:01 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead 1902 "Smart Attire for Mourners." One might as well be dead as out of fashion.

Advertising illustration headed Smart Attire for Mourners, showing two pigeon-breasted women, one in a coat with a wide sailor collar, wearing a flared skirt, flat hat with veil over her face; the other in silhouette, with a flared skirt with panels in the train and flapped detail on the bodice. She wears a two-tiered hat with a long veil down the back.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 14, 2026, 12:09 PM

Died #onthisday in 1901, President William McKinley, 8 days after being shot by an anarchist. A woven silk memorial piece for the late President, with his last words "Goodbye All, Goodbye." and "It is God's way, His will, not ours be done."
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead

Woven silk mourning picture showing the late President McKinley in a frame of black and white lines. A dark-haired woman in a grey dress holding a wreath in one hand is shown weeping atop the picture. The president's signature is seen beneath his portrait, with the words "Goodbye All, Goodbye." and "It is God's way, His will, not ours be done."

Detail of woven silk mourning picture showing the late President McKinley in a frame of black and white lines. A dark-haired woman in a grey dress holding a wreath in one hand is shown weeping atop the picture.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 14, 2026, 12:03 PM

Died #onthisday in 1901, President William McKinley, 8 days after being shot by an anarchist as he visited the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. A mourning lithograph. "Not Lost, But Gone Before"
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead

Mourning lithograph depicting the late President William McKinley. His photograph is framed by rows of columns, tassels, and flowers. Below is a tomb-like structure with wreaths, a cross and a crown. The Holy Spirit dove hovers above him, with a banner that reads "Not Lost But Gone Before."

Detail of mourning lithograph depicting the late President William McKinley. His photograph is framed by rows of columns, tassels, and flowers. The Holy Spirit dove hovers above him, with a banner that reads "Not Lost But Gone Before." Photographs of the Pan-American Exposition building where he was shot and (I think) his home in Canton, Ohio, are inserted at the bottom of his portrait.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 13, 2026, 12:46 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Mourning earrings in onyx and pearl c. 1870-1885

Long, angular mourning earrings of a series of triangle, diamond, and leaf-shaped elements in onyx, set with a single pearl.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 13, 2026, 12:41 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead "Mourning dressed trimmed with English crape and black cachemire." [sic] 1885

Fashion illustration of woman in a mourning dress trimmed with stripes of black, holding a fan.