Faces Of The Living Dead

by Martyn Jolly

Links the popularity of spirit photography to historical eras of war and destruction.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, History, Paranormal, Art, Ghosts, Spiritualism

160 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2006

About the author

Dr Martyn Jolly is an artist and a writer. He completed his PhD on fake photographs and photographic affect at the University of Sydney in 2003.His book Faces of the Living Dead: The Belief in Spirit Photography was published in the UK, US and Australia in 2006. His work is in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. In 2006 he was one of three artists commissioned to design and build the Act Bushfire Memorial.

(http://soa.anu.edu.au/staff/martyn-jolly)

Reviews

[April-Jane Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about early spirit photography and how the phenomenon for seances and communicating with the dead took over the populace in the 1800s. Looking back on the 'evidence' it's shocking to think that people were ever fooled by much of it. Tights thrown up as ectoplasm and cut and paste of floating heads are just two examples. Photography was still in its infancy however and what is clearly a trick now was a marvel then. I imagine those mediums that truly could pass on messages from the dead had just as hard a time then as they do now to be believed amid all the charlatans out to make money from grief.

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excellent, detailed overview of spirit photography, from its beginnings through its major phases and legacy. Choosing detailed case studies rather than broad analysis, this collects more stories from more primary sources than most other discussions of spirit photography as a phenomenon. For all that, it's brief, just 160 wide pages that really show off the photos (and that includes bibliography, notes, and index). It's a brilliantly executed book.

[Mark Levandoski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting account of early spirit photographers and related spiritualism aspects.Good quantity of photo examples to illustrate.