WITH MACABRE WOODCUT
MIMEREL, Marie-Thérèse.
Vous êtes priés d’assister aux convoi & vigiles de Damoiselle Marie-Therese Mimerel ...
[Amiens, 1779].
Single sheet, 42 x 53 cm, large woodcut initial, 13 lines of text; a few small chips to edges, creases from folding; overall very good.
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Vous êtes priés d’assister aux convoi & vigiles de Damoiselle Marie-Therese Mimerel ...
An apparently unrecorded announcement of the funeral and burial of Marie-Thérèse Mimerel at Amiens, in northern France, on 17 January 1779.
Born at Amiens in 1723, the daughter of a master jeweller, Marie married the local merchant and city official Antoine-Isidore de Bonne. This notice invites its readers to attend Marie’s funeral ‘at five o’clock in the church of St Martin’ and burial ‘in the cemetery of St Denis’, as well as to a Mass at eleven o’clock the following morning.
The text opens with a remarkable macabre woodcut initial depicting an elaborate tomb within which appear Father Time (with hourglass and a long beard stretching to his feet), a female figure staring directly at the viewer, a spade, and a scythe. Teardrops rain down from above, and the mournful black border is filled with skulls, crossbones, and further tears.
Given its size, this notice was clearly intended for public display, no doubt outside the home of the deceased as well as at the church and cemetery.
Not traced on OCLC or CCFr. OCLC finds two similar notices issued at Amiens, one from 1791 (Library of Congress) and another from 1821 (BM Lyon).
