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@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 2:44 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead #NationalMotorcycleRideDay
A floral motorcycle sent by the Atlanta [Georgia] Motorcycle Club to the funeral of young Henry Hammond Springs, who died in a motorcycle race 30 May 1922.

A photograph of a motorcycle made of flowers--a funeral tribute. The banner indicates it is from the Atlanta [Georgia] Motorcycle Club, 1922.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 2:41 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead #NationalMotorcycleRideDay
Motorcycle Riders Diverted by Death, E. Kneiss, 1929.
An alert reader noted that the marque (seen on the tank) is "MORS."
wellcomecollection.org/works/w2yfp2wg

Drawing of a man and a woman riding on a motorcycle on a mountain road. They wear clothing of the 1920s. A skeletal Death figure holding a watch, grabs one handlebar to divert the motorcycle into the valley below.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 2:37 PM

#31DaysofGraves Day 10: Missing.
Empty bed tombstone for Thomas Allen Neil, born on Christmas, 1851 and died 17 August 1852, aged 7 months. Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus.
www.findagrave.com/memorial/213...
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead

A carved stone tombstone showing a small, empty bed with the covers slightly pulled back. It stands on a rectangular plinth and the name "Tommy" can be seen carved in one corner. Another tombstone with raised lettering sits beside it.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 1:47 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Collection of jet mourning jewellery worn by Mrs Craig of Edinburgh. The largest necklace, of oblong jet links, suspends an articulated jet anchor, symbolising hope.
www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-...

Photograph of a collection of jet mourning jewellery. There is a comb at the lower left with a coronet-like collection of jet beads at the top. In the center is a necklace of oblong links, holding an anchor pendant. To the upper right is a necklace of multiple jet navette elements, tied with a black ribbon. In the lower right are two bracelets with the central element in the form of a double open knot and eight graded connecting sections forming the wrist band.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 1:38 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Widow snark postcard, c. 1910 originally trimmed with a flower and feathers. The Merry Widow hat [made by Lucile for Lehár’s operetta, Die lustige Witwe, and an immediate fashion craze] was also the subject of satire because of its large size and elaborate trimmings.

Black and white postcard showing a border of dancing couples and individual ladies dressed in the style of 1907-1912. In the center is a large, flat-crowned, wide-brimmed hat in glossy black. A motto in Gothic letters, below the hat, reads The hat of the Merry Widow / Is paid for by the married kiddo.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 1:16 PM

#31DaysofGraves #9 Lettering The text seems to melt into the lichened log background in this tombstone for "Mother" Russell [I haven't found her first name in the records] at Ferncliff Cemetery, Springfield, Ohio.
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead

Closeup of a carved stone tombstone with the word "Mother" and a rope hung over a protruding stump of a cut-off branch.

Closeup of a carved stone tombstone with the word "Mother" at the top and a banner hung by a rope with tassels over a protruding stump of a cut-off branch that reads 1814-1897 aged 83. Under the banner is the word Russell and several plantain leaves.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 8, 2026, 12:08 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Photograph taken 8 October 1860 on Prince Albert's last visit to Coburg. All are wearing mourning for (I assume) Duchess Marie of Württemberg, Prince Albert’s stepmother who died 24 Sept. 1860. Full list of those pictured is in the alt text.
www.rct.uk/collection/s...

Photograph of a full length group portrait of, from left to right, Princess Alice, Victoria, Princess Frederick of Prussia, Prince Frederick of Prussia, Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and Alexandrine, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Photograph taken in Coburg on 8 October, 1860. The participants are most likely in mourning for Duchess Marie of Württemberg, Prince Albert’s stepmother, who died 24 September, 1860.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 6, 2026, 4:17 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead It's #MadHatterDay. I can't think of a mourning hat much madder than this diabolical 1906 hat and veil in crepe and nun's veiling, made by Jas. McCreery & Co., New York.

Photograph of a model with her head lowered, looking upwards, wearing a black bodice, and a horned black hat with veil down the back.

Photograph of a back view of a mourning hat and veil, with wings or horns on the hat and a draped veil down the back.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 6, 2026, 12:20 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Samples from a large collection of black-edged mourning cards and envelopes held at Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk. Two of the envelopes shown have a crest of feathers and coronet with the motto "Watchful".
www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1398022

Photograph of a collection of mourning cards and envelopes of white paper bordered with black.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 6, 2026, 12:12 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Mary Pease in widow's cap. She was an Elder in the Society of Friends at Darlington and founded the Cockerton orphan home for young girls. Died in 1909 aged 83. While her dress shows fashionable touches of lace, she still wears her widow's cap for husband Henry (d. 1881)

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 6, 2026, 11:47 AM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Miss Annie Notman in elegant mourning, 1882. Taken 6 October 1882. The beading on the edge of her crape bonnet, the gap in her glove, showing her wrist, and the shiny medallion she wears are unusual details.
collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/1...

Photograph of a young woman standing against a painted backdrop, wearing a dark dress, a cap-like bonnet and a long veil. She wears dark gloves and holds an open parasol or umbrella. There is a light-colored round brooch at her throat.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 4, 2026, 2:44 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Madame Veuve Fontaine Clémentine Fontaine, née Aubut, Montreal, Quebec, 1899
2nd mourning--her gown is textured, not crape. She holds a black handkerchief. The buttoned velvet bands on her cuffs are an unusual detail.
collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/4...

Black and white photograph of a woman in full mourning dress with a long skirt and immense gigot sleeves and a mourning bonnet with a pointed front peak trimmed with a white ruche, and a long veil. Labeled L.E. Desmarais & Cie, 17 St. Lawrence St. Montreal. She stands with one hand on a decorative pillar prop in front of a backdrop painted with flowers, between two curtains.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 4, 2026, 2:39 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Black and white mourning handkerchief with scalloped edges.
Trauer-Taschentuch - Museum for Sepulchral Culture, Germany - CC0. www.europeana.eu/en/item/1254...

Black handkerchief with embroidered white bow and ribbon details, line and dot borders and scalloped borders bound with white.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 4, 2026, 1:56 PM

#31DaysofGraves Day 4: Entrance Gloriously gothic Green-wood Cemetery (New York) gates, then (1900-1909) and now.
digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/a44288...
Green-Wood Cemetery Gate today By Rhododendrites - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?...
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead

Entrance Greenwood Cemetery, New York Gothic gate with elaborate buttresses and spires with plainer brick houses on either side.

Gate to Green-Wood Cemetery, New York, with elaborate Gothic buttresses, pinnacles, and tracery above Gothic arches in brownish-red stone. A car is parked in front of one of the pillars. There are buildings flanking the gate with pointed roots with striped and patterned roofs.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 12:10 PM

For #ForteanFriday Fearing the Reaper: A Fight with Death “I felt certain if that shade came on and touched me, I was a dead man.” A fight to the death–with Death.
hauntedohiobooks.com/news/fearing...
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead

Black and white drawing of a skeletal Grim Reaper walking in a graveyard with two tombstones and some trees behind him. He carries his scythe and an hourglass.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 12:02 PM

#31DaysofGraves #2 Urn Weeping willows bend over a large and tiny urn for Mrs Loina Day and infant. She died on 20 January, 1813, aged 31 years, just 11 days after her child.
www.jstor.org/stable/commu...
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead

Brownish tombstone with a large and small arch on the top carved with urns overshadowed by weeping willows. The text reads: In Memory of Mrs. Loina Day, Consort of Mr. Joseph Day, who died Jan. 20th 1813, Aged 31 years.
Also
Her infant Child died Jan. 9 1813.
Great God I own thy sentence just
And nature must decay;
I yield her body to the dust [? the stone is very worn]
And wipe my weeping eyes. [? the grass hides some of the inscription.]

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 1:02 PM

#31DaysofGraves #1 Flower
Sunflower? Dahlia?
Randal McGavock departed this life the 25 October 1826, aged 24 years & 5 M & 7 days. The son of James McGavock Jr. www.findagrave.com/memorial/438...
James McGavock Cemetery
Fort Chiswell, Wythe County, Virginia, USA
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead

Stone gravestone carved with a shaped round top with shoulders. Bordered with carved "pleating" and a multi-petalled flower. In Memory of Randal McGavock departed this life the 25 October 1826, aged 24 years & 5 M & 7 days. The son of James McGavock Jr.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 30, 2026, 1:28 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Mourning veil from Lilias Hurd, New York, 1902 This turban is most effective...The low crown is covered smooth with crape, the brim is made of alternating rows of straw braid and crape. The handsome veil is of net and edged with crape and draped in the very latest manner.

Model posed wearing mourning--an elaborate capelet of crape edged with pleated chiffon, a high necked bodice, and a flat, braided straw hat of turban form topped with a crape edged veil, worn over the face.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 30, 2026, 1:25 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Spanish coffin furniture -plaque reading Descanse en Paz / Rest in Peace, c. 1900. The plaque is metal. The frame may be silvered card or pressed tin.

Silvery metal coffin plaque framed in pressed metal or silvered card foliage and ribbons set with several rhinestones. Reads Descanse en Paz / Rest in Peace.

@chriswoodyard.bsky.social Sep 30, 2026, 1:19 PM

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead A leading coffin manufacturer shares the fear of a collapse of the nation’s general prosperity. He gravely asserts that his own industry is already virtually dead....
thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2026/09/30/a...

Advertisement for Coffins! Coffins! Coffins! We now have in stock and will continue to keep, a complete line of Coffins and Burial Caskets. Our stock embraces ALL SIZES AND QUALITIES. From the plain, cheap Coffin up to the handsome Metallic Cases. Call and see us or send us your order when so unfortunate as to have a death in your family. Prices within the reach of all. Lancaster Mercantile Co. Lancaster, 8.C., Oct, 23, '02.--if.