Bills of Mortality, London, 1665

‘London’s Dreadful Visitation Or, A Collection of All the Bills of Mortality for this Present Year; Beginning the 27th of December 1664, and ending the 19th of December following…’ So proclaims this paper bill of mortality produced during the Great Plague of 1665-1666.
The bill is decorated around the border with images of death, including skeletons, skull and cross-bones, and shovels. The imposing skull at the top of the sheet is crowned with a winged hour-glass and wrapped in a banner stating ‘Memento Mori’. This is a Latin phrase which translates as “Remember your mortality”, “Remember you must die” or “Remember you will die”.