Epitaphs: A Dying Art

This slim volume with a smart, shiny black dust jacket is a collection of over 300 epitaphs from “cemeteries, churchyards, funerary monuments, memorial plaques and historical records”. There is no clear statement of the rationale for choosing the examples used other than the cover blurb: “some of the best and most intriguing examples of the final word”, ranging from Ancient Greece to the twenty-first century. The seven-page introduction provides a useful history of memorials and epitaphs, recording trends and fashions through the ages.

The epitaphs are divided into seven broad categories which the author admits is an attempt to “give...