[Rarebooks] FS: Bad Taste in Tombs in 1851

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

TITLE: “The Churchyard Manual. Intended Chiefly for Rural Districts”

By W. Hastings Kelke.
Published in London by C. Cox in 1851.

DISCUSSION: An interesting reformer's text, meant to improve the character
and decoration of rural churchyards. Town church yards were, the author
had concluded, too crowded to admit of reform, but country grounds had no
such problem. They had other problems though- "too often they present a
neglected and an unbecoming appearance; and still more frequently they
contain, and continue to receive, memorials of an objectionable
character". Kelke includes designs for gravestones and tombs, and a
complete list of inscriptions and epitaphs that may not be found
objectionable. His text covers cemeteries, and churchyard memorials and
their decorations, about which he has strong opinions-

"The ornaments of some modern memorials give them a fantastic and
ridiculous appearance. A cherub's head, with puffed cheeks and outspread
wings, formed by one continuous line of clever flourishing, adorns the
upper part of the memorial, while the inscription, written in letters of
various shape and character, is also embellished with a profusion of
unmeaning flourishes. Such specimens of ornamental penmanship may be
necessary in the writing-master's copy book, but are utterly unbecoming
the gravity of sepulchral memorials. On the same principle gaudy colouring
ought to be excluded. Yet the undiscriminating mania for mediaeval taste
commends the one and condemns the other. A tomb, the receptacle of man's
perishing remains, should not be tricked out with gorgeously emblazoned
ornaments or illuminated letters, which give it a gaudy and flaunting
appearance, perfectly inconsistent with its real nature and purpose.
However brightened by the resurrection of our Lord, and robbed of its
terrors to the true Christian, the grave is still a solemn object".

DESCRIPTION: Hardcover. 4.5"x6.75", xii + 154 pages, frontispiece vignette
of a country church; 16 text illustrations of designs for headstones and
tombs; publisher's original ribbed black cloth with a blindstamped Gothic
design; gilt title. Tipped-in errata slip. Old Gothic-design bookplate.
Presentation inscription to the Yorkshire Architectural Society from Rev.
A. (illegible) Ba(??)y".

CONDITION NOTES: Slight split in the outer hinge at the top, and slight
chipping to the spine head and base, and a little light internal soil,
else a fine, bright copy.

PRICE:  $400 -

SOME PICTURES =>
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