Emblems of mortality : representing, in upwards of fifty cuts, Death seizing all ranks and degrees of people : imitated from a painting in the cemetery of the Dominican church at Basil, in Switzerland : with an apostrophe to each, translated from the Latin and French : intended as well for the infomation of the curious, as the instruction and entertainment of youth : to which is prefixed a copious preface, containing an historical account of the above, and other paintings on this subject, now or lately existing in divers parts of Europe
Emblems of Mortality, published in London in 1789, reproduces the Basel Dance of Death painting in over fifty woodcut cuts with translated verses, intended for the curious and for the instruction of young readers. Its woodcuts show Death, as a skeleton, seizing figures from every rank: a woman and a man in a tower courtyard, a crowned ruler enthroned while a kneeling figure is approached, and a group of richly dressed courtiers struck down by a skeleton. A designer might take the stark contrast of white figures against dense hatching, and the lively gestures of skeletons leading people by the hand.
