{"id":5144,"date":"2014-10-01T20:35:03","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T01:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=5144"},"modified":"2014-10-01T20:35:03","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T01:35:03","slug":"morbid-fact-du-jour-for-october-1-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=5144","title":{"rendered":"Morbid Fact Du Jour for October 1, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today was a very exciting day for me because a very kind-hearted Asylum patron sent me a first edition copy of the original Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography In America book! \u00a0 To celebrate this occasion, I thought I&#8217;d present the first couple of images from the book as today&#8217;s fact. \u00a0I&#8217;ll slowly work through the rest of the images in both this book and Sleeping Beauty II (which I already have). \u00a0Thank you again for your incredible generosity, Bill!<\/p>\n<p>And now&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Today&#8217;s Pre-Mortem Yet Truly Morbid Fact!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Pre-mortem Photographs of a Woman and a Child<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Anonymous Daguerrotypes circa 1845.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-5144 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?attachment_id=5146'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/IMG_0102-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-5146\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-5146'>\n\t\t\t\tPre-mortem daguerrotype of a woman, 1845.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?attachment_id=5145'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/IMG_0083-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-5145\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-5145'>\n\t\t\t\tPre-mortem daguerrotype of a child, 1845.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>&#8220;Secure the Shadow &#8216;Ere the Substance Fade&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In photography&#8217;s earliest era, when most Americans had not had their portraits taken, this saying was a popular advertising slogan for daguerrotypists. \u00a0It served as a reminder to photograph loved ones even after they had died. \u00a0Nineteenth-century America was preoccupied with death, as it was ever present, often reversing life&#8217;s natural course by taking the young before the old.<\/p>\n<p>These two daguerrotypes are &#8220;pre-mortem&#8221; photographs taken just before death. \u00a0the look of resignation to coming death is written on these faces. \u00a0This universal facial expression, relaxed facial muscles and firm-pressed lips, is a part of the terminal state. \u00a0The coming of death was rarely photographed, as it often came quickly, and perhaps the hope of survival prevented acknowledgement. \u00a0The child is portrayed with the trappings of death; she is covered with flowers.<\/p>\n<p>Culled from: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0942642325\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0942642325&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=theasylumeclecti&amp;linkId=OUGQQLDPPZCFNZFZ\">Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=theasylumeclecti&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0942642325\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today was a very exciting day for me because a very kind-hearted Asylum patron sent me a first edition copy of the original Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography In America book! \u00a0 To celebrate this occasion, I thought I&#8217;d present the first couple of images from the book as today&#8217;s fact. \u00a0I&#8217;ll slowly work through the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5144"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5149,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5144\/revisions\/5149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}