This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the Julio Mario Santo Domingo collection.
Eros, it should now be obvious, is intrinsic to the Santo Domingo Collection; it follows that Thanatos can’t be far behind. This lavish volume by Éditions Kra is entitled La Danse Macabre, and consists of twenty images by the Art Deco illustrator Yan Bernard Dyl, with accompanying text by French novelist Pierre MacOrlan. Together, they describe death as it insinuates itself into all aspects of human experience. The vignettes pictured here are on gambling games and cocaine; among the other topics are lies, nightmares, sexual pleasure, and God.
Pierre MacOrlan. La danse macabre. Paris: Édité par Simon Kra, 1927. FC9.M2382.927d.
Thanks to rare book cataloger Ryan Wheeler for contributing this post.