Haunted Air
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Book Overview
A collection of anonymous Hallowe'en Photographs from America, c.1875 - 1955 The roots of Hallowe'en lie in the ancient pre-Christian Celtic festival of Samhain, a feast to mark the death of the old year and the birth of the new. It was believed that on this night the veil separating the worlds of the living and the dead grew thin and ruptured, allowing spirits to pass through and walk unseen but not unheard amongst men. The advent of Christianity saw the pagan festival subsumed in All Souls' Day, when across Europe the dead were mourned and venerated. Children and the poor, often masked or in outlandish costume, wandered the night begging 'soul cakes' in exchange for prayers, and fires burned to keep malevolent phantoms at bay. The photographs in Haunted Air provide an extraordinary glimpse into the traditions of this macabre festival from ages past, and form an important document of photographic history. These are the pictures of the dead: family portraits, mementos of the treasured, now unrecognizable, other. Torn from album pages, sold piecemeal for pennies and scattered, abandoned to melancholy chance and the hands of strangers.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:1787334244
ISBN13:9781787334243
Release Date:August 2023
Publisher:Jonathan Cape
Length:216 Pages
Weight:2.00 lbs.
Dimensions:0.9" x 7.8" x 8.8"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
So Eerie Yet Beautiful
Published by Sofia F. , 5 years ago
Im in love with this book. It’s a super high quality book filled with antique photographs of Halloween costumes. As someone who loves to make masks, this book was incredibly inspiring. Would highly recommend to anyone interested in unsettling images!
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