author
Auguste Renouard
1839–1912
A pioneering voice in early American embalming, this 19th-century author wrote one of the field’s foundational manuals. His work helped turn undertaking from a practical trade into a more formal profession.
1 Audiobook
The undertakers' manual
by Auguste Renouard
About the author
Auguste Renouard was an American writer and embalming instructor best remembered for The Undertakers' Manual, published in 1878. The book is the main work securely linked to him in major library and public-domain records, and it presents detailed guidance on embalming, preservation, and the daily practice of undertaking.
Later sources describe him as an influential teacher in the funeral profession and connect him with the Renouard School for Embalming in New York. Contemporary obituary material also points to his role as a widely traveled lecturer and founder of an embalming school, which helps explain why his name remained important in trade history after his death in 1912.
Because reliable biographical information about his personal life is limited, he is best introduced through his impact: a practical author whose manual helped shape professional embalming in the United States.