‘Heil’ bile
Jan 31st, 2013 by houghtonmodern
This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the newly acquired Julio Mario Santo Domingo collection.
A curiosity from the Santo Domingo Collection this week, reflective of Julio Santo Domingo’s far-ranging interest in French history and culture: this broadside, printed in France by Librairie Hayard in 1944:
The front is printed with a satirical invitation to Hitler’s “mise en bière,” or formal funeral ceremony, with an accompanying last will and testament on the reverse. Beyond the obvious insult of declaring Hitler dead, the broadside’s tone is one of absurdist ridicule. The funeral invitation declares that “this fragrant hour has been chosen in order to complement with dignity the foul odors that will emanate from the carcass of this august stiff, and give pleasure to the excellent cretins who will follow the procession.” Guests are encouraged to bring “neither flowers nor wreaths, only old stillborn toads.” Toward the bottom of the sheet is the invocation “prière de rigoler,” or “please laugh,” an inversion of the expected admonishment. On the verso, the following are among the will’s bequeathals: to Mussolini, “my pair of suspenders, to hold up the boxer shorts that encumber him;” and to the Museum of Berlin, “an onion which I had between the big and second toes of my left foot.”
Raymond du Croissant, pseud. Vous êtes prié d’assister à la mise en bière … Paris: Librairie Hayard, [1944] . FB9.A100.944v.
Thanks to rare book cataloger Ryan Wheeler for contributing this post.