A is For Arsenic: An ABC of Victorian Death
FACT SHEET
A IS FOR ARSENIC: AN ABC OF VICTORIAN DEATH
Title: A is for Arsenic: An ABC of Victorian Death, Chris Woodyard
Author: Chris Woodyard
Illustrations: Landis Blair
ISBN: 978-0-9881925-4-6
Publication Date: September, 2023
Page Count: 208 pp.
Size: 9 x 6” trade paperback
Retail Price: $18.95
Publisher: Kestrel Publications, 1811 Stonewood Dr., Dayton, OH 45432-4002, 937 426-5110. E-mail: chriswoodyard8@gmail.com
Features: Black and white line illustrations, appendix of mourning etiquette, glossary, bibliography
Blurb: A is for Arsenic is a guide to the basics of Victorian mourning with whimsical poems, “death-initions,” and stories resurrected from 19th-century newspapers, brought back to life through the evocative art of Landis Blair.
Chris Woodyard, author of The Victorian Book of the Dead, answers your dead-serious questions including:
How long should you mourn for someone who left you money in their will?
Why did body snatchers strip a body before carrying it away?
What was a coffin torpedo?
Were mourning clothes poisonous?
What is inheritance powder?
Who killed off keening?
What is dead water?
An A to Z delight for lovers of the macabre!
Contents:
Introduction
A – Arsenic
B – Bier
C – Crape
D – Death Token
E – Embalming
F – Fisk Burial Case
G – Gates Ajar
H – Hearse
I – Ice Box
J – Jet
K – Keen
L – Lychgate
M – Mute
N – Necropolis
O – Obelisk
P – Post Mortem
Q – Queen Victoria
R – Resurrection Men
S – Shroud
T – Tear Bottle
U – Undertaker
V – Veil
X – Sexton
W – Weepers
Y – Churchyard
Z – Zinc
Appendix: Mourning Etiquette
Glossary
Bibliography