Premature Burial: How It May Be Prevented

by Walter Hadwen, William Tebb, Edward Perry Vollum

Long out of print, this book was written to reassure the many nineteenth-century people who were apparently worried (to death?) about being buried alive. Indeed, one of the authors himself had a narrow escape, as his collaborator 'Dr. Vollum first became interested in the important question of Premature Burial in consequence of his own very narrow escape from live sepulture, having been pronounced dead from drowning, and prepared for interment, when consciousness happily returned spontaneously.' This edited version of the book extracts the most frightening stories of narrow escapes and living burials from a mass of historical material. Its contents list Animal and So-called Human Hibernation, Narrow Escapes from Premature Burial, Premature Burial of Doubtful Cases, Death-Counterfeits, The Danger of Hasty Burials, Sudden Death, Embalming and Dissections and Count Karnice-Karnicki's Invention.

Genres: Nonfiction

120 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in 1896, this volume shows the very real terror that being buried alive held for the Victorians and the lengths they went to to try to avoid it, some of which are certainly in the extreme end of things. Personally I loved this little book as the despite the horror and gore of the subject matter, Hadwen writes with the reserved, practical manner that I love about Victorian literature, allowing the subject matter to speak for itself (and for your imagination to run wild, should it wish to). Many will find this rather disturbing and possibly a little distasteful but this was an era when science was still trying to get to grips with what it meant to be dead, something that even now can be open to debate. A great spine chilling practical read.

[Katia M. Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this because I wanted a hard copy of the version I have as PDF. I made a mistake. This is a mutilated version of the original. A chapter has been omitted, others have been renamed, the entire 6 appendices have been omitted, and many of the examples removed. The Bibliography is missing and the index has also been removed - not that it would have made much sense with half the text missing. I don't know what the editor was thinking, but this is not a faithful reproduction of the original Victorian text.

The language also seems dumbed down in places, and quotes from original sources truncated.

If you really do want to read what the original authors intended rather than this castrated version by Jonathan Sale, do a web search on the title with PDF added. There are several available for download, and there is a copy on Project Gutenberg.

[WaterstonesBirmingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of true accounts of people being buried alive.
Some were lucky enough to escape, while others were not so lucky.

A very interesting insight into the terror people felt and the lengths people went to ,to ensure they were truly dead before being committed to the ground.

Very creepy.

Grace

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read

[The Literary Expedition · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange and idiosyncratic relic of an era when death was a much-discussed commonality. What is says about the living is far more interesting than what it says about the dead.

Read Katie's full review here

[Geku · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This was at a time when body-snatching was in vogue, and it is a curious comment on our civilization to be compelled to admit that a subject of trance or catalepsy during the eighteenth or the early part of the last century had a better chance of escape from so terrible a fate than now [1905], when the vocation of the resurrection-man has become obsolete." (p. 99)

[Jorg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, too much repetition, more a nice book to have standing in the bookshelf