New: ‘A Strange Suicide’ Posters –
For those who prefer your workshop art to be a little twisted (as opposed to a sexist cheesecake calendar) we offer this poster from the back page of the April 5, 1903, edition of the French illustrated newspaper Le Petit Parisien.
The poster is $15, which includes domestic shipping. They are in stock and will ship immediately from our Indiana warehouse. You can place your order here.
Unearthed by researcher Jeff Burks, this poster reproduces the original printed page in full size and full color. We obtained two original copies of the original newspaper, scanned them and merged them to produce this poster.
It is printed on #100 semi-gloss paper in California, measures 13″ x 19″ and features a translation of the original news story from 1903 (also below). The poster ships in a rugged cardboard tube. We have printed 500 copies. When they are gone, they are gone forever.
A Strange Suicide
This is obviously a particular case of madness, that of the strange suicide of this joiner from Sainte-Ménehould, with whom all the press is occupied. Mr. Lemaître, the joiner in question, was sick for a long time; He was, in addition, suffering from paranoia; his rationale seemed very shaken.
Tired of suffering, he resolved to finish his own existence. But he did not use, like so many others, poison, the revolver or the rope; He wanted to be guillotined. He very patiently sharpened a spade, so it would be keen as a razor; he tied it to his joinery workbench, which had been loaded quite heavily with wood; then, using a piece of wood as a brace, he lifted his bench to 60 centimeters in height and spread himself on the ground so that, by removing the piece of wood, the spade would strike his neck.
These tragic preparations had taken a fairly long time. With a chisel, Mr. Lemaître knocked out the brace that was holding the workbench and the spade descended suddenly, working as a guillotine blade. Indeed, the carotid artery was severed and the head weakly attached to the body. The doctor who was called found him dead.
