Dealings with the Dead (Vol. 1&2) (Annotated)

Dealings with the Dead (Vol. 1&2) is a richly digressive work of antiquarian prose, gathering Lucius M. Sargent's meditations on tombs, epitaphs, forgotten persons, local history, and the moral eloquence of mortality. Written in a conversational yet erudite style, the book belongs to a nineteenth-century tradition of reflective historical miscellany, where anecdote, genealogy, satire, and pious contemplation mingle. Its pages recover vanished social worlds while treating the graveyard as both archive and pulpit. Lucius M. Sargent, a Boston-born lawyer, poet, essayist, and reformer, was steeped in New England's civic memory and moral culture. His interest in family lineage, public character, and the lessons of history informs the book throughout. Best known also for his temperance writings, Sargent brought to this work a reformer's seriousness, an antiquary's patience, and a gentleman essayist's delight in curious survivals. This two-volume work is recommended to readers of early American literature, local history, funerary culture, and moral essay-writing. Those who appreciate learned anecdote and historical reflection will find it an absorbing encounter with how nineteenth-century America conversed with its dead.

This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.

Lucius Manlius Sargent (1786-1867) was an American author, antiquarian, and temperance advocate who was a member of the prominent Sargent family of Boston. He turned to literature as a vocation, publishing The Culex of Virgil; with a Translation into English Verse and a collection of Latin riddles in 1807 and Hubert and Ellen, a volume of poems, in 1812. He wrote constantly for the newspapers and became well known for his literary interests.