By Sir Thomas Browne. Introduction by W. G. Sebald.

Hydriotaphia, or Urn-Burial, is one of the pinnacles of Renaissance scholarship and without doubt one of the great essays in English literature. Beginning with observations on the recent discovery of Roman antiquities in the form of burial urns, Browne explores man's struggles with mortality and the uncertainty of his fate and fame in the living world. This edition includes a beautiful discourse on Sir Thomas Browne taken from the first chapter of W. G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn.

New Directions Publishing; 2010; Softcover; 4.5" x 7"; 90 pp; ISBN 9780811218924