(BURIALS). WALSH, David. Premature Burial: Fact or Fiction?

Buried Alive?

(BURIALS). WALSH, David. Premature Burial: Fact or Fiction? (New York: William Wood & Company, 1898) 49, [1] pp. (182 x 124 mm.) First American Edition. Publisher's black cloth, gilt lettering.  With clippings from journals pasted on to pastedowns and front free endpapers; owner's signature in ink on front free endpaper; ink underlining and marginal arrows in many places in text; ink stamp of "Health Research" on rear pastedown.  Front free endpaper clipped at top corner, a little light foxing to fore-edge, but an excellent copy.

A scarce work investigating various stories and reports of premature burial, relying on scientific fact to debunk the phenomenon.

The act of being buried alive surely ranks among the most terrifying situations one can imagine. Fear of this gruesome fate, known as taphophobia, reached its greatest expression in the Victorian period, prompting the invention of commodities such as "safety coffins" outfitted with air tubes and bells, elaborate tests for determining that one is truly dead, and the foundation of organizations such as the London Association for the Prevention of Premature Burial.

The present work approaches the topic of premature burial with skepticism, laying out the scientific facts of bodily processes after death, discussing "counterfeits of death" (comas, trance-like states, etc.), and looking at historic and contemporary accounts as published in books and newspapers. The author debunks and dismisses each case one by one, demonstrating that the frequency of such occurrences has been grossly overestimated. In the end, the author concludes that while rare incidents may transpire, "the theory of frequent premature burial is unsupported by exact evidence, in other words, it occupies the position of a mere popular belief or fable."

We find no other copies in the trade or at auction as of the time of writing. (1010)