anthropodermic bibliopegy
yep. anthropodermic bibliopegy. that’s the technical term for books bound in human skin .
the chirurgeon’s apprentice, “books of human flesh: the history behind anthropodermic bibliopegy. ”
i09. com, “anthropodermic bibliopegy; or the truth about books bound in human skin. ”
boston, james allen (highwayman), harrington and co. , boston athenaeum, anthropodermic bibliopegy
journal of american medical association: dermatology, “anthropodermic bibliopegy: lessons from a different sort of dermatologic text. ”
my first discovery was that binding books with human skin really is a thing. the term is anthropodermic bibliopegy .
called anthropodermic bibliopegy, it was found in many libraries, including those of most of the ivy league schools of america .
called anthropodermic bibliopegy, it was found in many libraries, including those of most of the ivy league schools of america .
you can’t tell a book by its cover: analytical adventures in anthropodermic bibliopegy daniel p. kirby, william s. lane
i had to include this book in this very long survey of anthropodermic bibliopegy when i read the phrase “highly burnished goat. ”
one of the funnier stories i read about anthropodermic bibliopegy comes from dr. caroline archer’s article for typographic hub, “print’s macabre side” :
smith, daniel k. “books bound in skin: a survey of examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy. ” eds. joanna ebenstein and colin dickey
the anthropodermic book project. the anthropodermic book project’s goal is “to create a census for the alleged anthropodermic books of the world and test as many as possible to learn the historical truths behind the innuendo. ” as of may 2017, the researchers have identified 47 alleged anthropodermic books, tested 31, found 13 not to be bound in human skin, and proven 18 to actually be examples of anthropodermic of bibliopegy .
harvard historians say a book thought to be bound in human skin is actually sheepskin. but the macabre art of anthropodermic bibliopegy has a long, dark history
anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. though uncommon in modern times, the technique dates back to at least the 17th century .
you think twitter is weird? look at early print culture and the practice of what book historians call anthropodermic bibliopegy. that would be binding books in human skin .
covering books in human skin, known as anthropodermic bibliopegy, was a particular subject of interest in the 19th century, although it is understood the practice goes back further .
rown university’s john hay library has three anthropodermic books. one is the famous anatomy textbook
we prefer to refer to books bound in human skin as antropodermic binding, but are willing to accept the bbc' s use of anthropodermic bibliopegy in recognition of their journalistic fortitude .
the practice, known as anthropodermic bibliopegy, had a novelty value hundreds of years ago. the most popular were court reports of murders that were covered in the skin of the perpetrator .
smith, daniel k. (2014) .
bound in human skin: a survey of examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy
. in joanna ebenstein, colin dickey (eds .) .
top image is a construction featuring a copy of a true and perfect relation and the necronomicon ex - mortis from evil dead ii, one of the better known fictional applications of anthropodermic bibliopegy .
the trend for anthropodermic bibliopegy likely began in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, although the first reputed example, a french bible, dates back to the 13th century. [ 1 ]
5. you can see examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy in many university and national libraries. here' s a list of places to see such work: have you been to any of these places ?
there are three anthropodermic books that have been suspected at harvard. for more information, please see
a few examples of books with anthropodermic binding are bound out of affection for the author, but most early examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy are the result of human skin claimed from medical cadavers or criminals sentenced to death, with their skin used to bound the record of their trials as a form of punishment that surpasses death .
here are quite a few more anthropodermic books in existence with interesting and sometimes troubling “behind the book” stories .
1. anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. beginning in the 17th century, it became fashionable among doctors to bind anatomy texts with the skin of cadavers and for the skin of executed criminals to be used to bind transcripts of their trials. reaching its peak popularity in the 17th and 18th century, anthropodermic bibliopegy fell out of fashion at the end of the victorian age. do these crazy times in history creep you out ?
perhaps gruesomely, a human skin bound edition of the book survives and currently resides at brown university. the practice of human skin binding is known as ‘anthropodermic bibliopegy’ and, as wikipedia points out, dates back till at least the 17th century .
the wavuma are believed to be an african people that possibly existed in modern day zimbabwe. this is a notable example of anthropodermic bibliopegy, as it is proof that the practice was sometimes used for memorial and sentimental reasons instead of for sheer macabre titillation .
by the 19th century, the most common use of anthropodermic bibliopegy was by physicians. dr. john stockton hough bound three medical volumes in the skin of a patient with the first diagnosed case of trichinosis. others used cadavers they had obtained from public executions .
anthropodermic bibliopegy - the practice of binding books in human skin. though fortunately uncommon in modern times, the technique dates back to at least the 17th century. the nazi' s do not appear to have performed this, the suggestion being most likely an urban legend .
what made you want to look up bibliopegy? please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible) .
of dr. fitzharris speaking on the history of anthropodermic bibliopegy in episode five of her video series “under the knife” (7: 18), which includes the gruesome tale of execution of william burke, a criminal, whose remains were used to create the “burke’s skin pocket book. ”
books can be bound in any number of materials: cloth, wood, leather made from the skin of cows or other livestock, velum, you name it. anthropodermic bibliopegy, however, is perhaps the most unusual of the bunch; it’s the practice of binding books in human skin .
the dance of death, by hans holbein. read the text of this one for free at project gutenberg — and courtesy of brown university’s john hay library. the brown version is a scan of the 1816 edition they have — one of the ones that’s actually an example of anthropodermic bibliopegy .
anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. though extremely uncommon in modern times, the technique dates back to at least the 17th century. the practice is inextricably connected with the practice of tanning human skin, often done in certain circumstances after a corpse has been dissected .
unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on wikipedia article
anthropodermic bibliopegy
or another language wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the gnu free documentation license; or on original research by jahsonic and friends. see art and popular culture' s copyright notice .
“let’s talk about binding books in human skin, ” by simon davis. an excellent, in - depth interview published at vice with dr. fitzharris about anthropodermic bibliopegy. i’d file this one under “everything you ever wanted to know about books bound in human skin but were afraid to ask. ”
rising in popularity during the 17th and 18th centuries, the practice of binding books in human skin, anthropodermic bibliopegy, fell off due to its macabre nature near the end of the victorian age. physicians enjoyed the practice, often using human skin, regardless of the source, to bind anatomy texts .
“anthropodermic bibliopegy: lessons from a different sort of dermatologic text, ” by navya s. nambudiri and vinod e. nambudiri an academic work on the subject published in the scientific research journal jama dermatology in 2014. there’s a paywall, but it’s worth reading. it’s also discussed at the atlantic here .
the libraries of many ivy league universities include one or more samples of anthropodermic bibliopegy. the rare book collection at the langdell law library at harvard university holds a book, practicarum quaestionum circa leges regias hispaniae, a treaty of spanish law. a faint inscription on the last page of the book states :
mr. gordon has also started a database to track examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy held at other institutions. the mutter museum in philadelphia, according to the database, is the leader with some six examples, including an 18th - century treatise on pregnancy said to be bound in skin taken from a woman’s thigh .
anthropodermic bibliopegy, or the practice of binding texts in human skin, may date back to the french revolution, when a number of copies of the french constitution were supposedly bound in the skin of those who opposed the new republic. (these can be seen in the in the museum carnavalet in paris. )
as it turns out, the practice of using human skin to bind books was actually pretty popular during the 17th century. it' s referred to as anthropodermic bibliopegy and proved pretty common when it came to anatomical textbooks. medical professionals would often use the flesh of cadavers they' d dissected during their research .
there are many elements of pop culture that involve books bound in skin – the film the pillow book, mayhem’s first studio album, among them – but i think those may need to wait for another time. please feel free to share any examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy in pop culture that feel important enough to mention .
the practice of binding books in human skin, also known as anthropodermic bibliopegy, is not just the stuff of dark legends and horror fiction. it was a real technique which, although frowned upon and considered ghastly by today’s standards, was officially practiced since the 17th century. the technique gained considerable popularity during the french revolution and among the upper classes in the 19th century. the technique was used to bind such texts as anatomy books, last will and testaments, and judicial proceedings. of course, there have been many legends concerning this practice, almost all of which have cast it in an evil light. but anthropodermic bibliopegy has a distinct history of being utilized for regular, and even mundane, texts. below i have arranged ten confirmed examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy, arranged in order of when the versions bound in skin were published. some of entries do not have a confirmed or recorded date of publishing, so i have had to take occasional liberties in making the list as chronological as possible .
in 2014, anthropodermic bibliopegy became popular in the media after harvard declared that one of their rumored books was actually bound with sheepskin, rather than human flesh. we can be grateful for this resurgence in interest, lest many bibliophiles or fans of the macabre would have never known about this eerie past lurking in the archives of the world .
i have to think that there are likely some undiscovered examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy in private collections, but i think that if one of the largest known collections of books bound in human skin has only five books, perhaps the custom of binding books in human skin was indeed less common than some of the sources i consulted seem to think it was .
since the tests showed the binding of the book not to be of human origin, it’s safe to say this was a hoax, though the purpose behind it remains unknown. as i read about anthropodermic bibliopegy, it was interesting to see how many articles that pre - dated the tests in 2014 discuss the memorial dedicated to poor jonas wright in the form of a book made from his skin, likening the book to the mourning jewelry victorians would make from the hair of the dead. when reading about this book, check the dates of the articles – this book is often mentioned as being an ironclad example of anthropodermic bibliopegy but it has indeed been proven not to be bound in human skin .
fugitive leaves, blog from the historical medical library of the college of physicians of philadelphia, “the skin she lived in: anthropodermic books in the historical medical library. ”
i decided to write this article after i stumbled across five mentions of anthropodermic bibliopegy in a 48 hour period. i took that as a sign that books bound in human skin was a topic i needed to discuss here – synchronicity isn’t something i really put much faith in but i wager that the average person might think it a sign if she just happened upon several references to such an arcane subject. it didn’t hurt that i found books bound in human skin extremely interesting. also, as i read about these books, i found myself wishing there was a master list and discussion of the more famous examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy, and who better to compile a long, wordy list than me? and here we are !
the first book is a french monograph, entitled relation des mouvemens de la ville de messine, depvis l’année m. dc. lxxi. jusques à present, and is believed to be the oldest book in the world that is bound in human skin. (in case you were wondering, anthropodermic bibliopegy is the term for the practice of binding books in human skin. )
i was not happy with the houghton blog, which was shocking in its crudity, opening with the sentence, “good news for fans of anthropodermic bibliopegy, bibliomaniacs, and cannibals alike. ” i wrote to the houghton and complained about this sentence, which was removed at my request. (the blog’s web address, incorporating “caveat - lecter”, still maintains the jocular tone. )
so this is what happens when i fall down a deep rabbit hole and write about what i find when i reach the bottom. i have no idea if this article will serve anyone other than me but it was enjoyable to write and i hope someone somewhere breathes easier knowing the more famous examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy are finally, at long last, in one place on one blog .
our team has developed an easy, inexpensive, and truly authoritative method for testing alleged anthropodermic books to see if they’re of human origin. our goal is to create a census for the alleged anthropodermic books of the world and test as many as possible to learn the historical truths behind the innuendo. we keep our partner institutions’ results anonymous unless we get their permission to share .
the practice of anthropodermic bibliopegy was once
somewhat common
, according to harvard librarians, who said that
the binding of books in human skin has occurred at least since the 16th century
, when
the confessions of criminals were occasionally bound in the skin of the convicted, or an individual might request to be memorialised for family or lovers in the form of a book
.
as i read about books bound in human skin i noticed that there was a surge of articles on the subject in the spring and summer of 2014. harvard university tested three suspected examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy in their collections and only one was genuinely bound in human skin, the skin from a woman who spent her life in a mental asylum. those tests spurred a media interest in anthropodermic bibliopegy, and an interest i am deeply appreciative for because otherwise i don’t think research into the topic would have been so easy. though several sources i read insisted that the practice of binding books in human skin was once an accepted practice, it was not a common practice and more or less ended in the late 19th century. there are very few of these books that remain in museums and libraries .
“a book by its cover: the strange history of books bound in human skin, ” by megan rosenbloom. a thorough history of anthropodermic bibliopegy published in literary magazine lapham’s quarterly in october of 2016. (just in time for halloween — yes, i see what you did there, lapham’s quarterly .) it covers both the rumors and the facts, from the french revolution up through the present .
as i read about anthropodermic bibliopegy, the topic fell neatly into several categories: criminals whose skin was harvested after their executions; skin used from people who could not or did not give meaningful consent to have their skin used after their deaths; voluntary skin donors; books proven not to be bound in human skin after peptide mass fingerprinting; and representations of human skin - bound books in pop culture .
this next book bound in human skin is less a mind - boggler than it is a head - shaker. from daniel k. smith’s article on anthropodermic bibliopegy in the morbid anatomy anthology, i found this bizarre and disturbing example of anthropodermic bibliopegy 1. in the collection at the clendening history of medicine library in kansas city sits one of the more on the nose book bindings, even more on the nose than binding books about female anatomy in the skin of random women. a 17th century book on the pituitary gland – exercitatio anatomica de glandula pituitaria – ended up being bound in the skin of circus giant. dr. charles humberd, owner of the book, somehow got his hands on the skin of an 8’6″ tall giant who traveled with the ringling brothers circus. an inscription on the front end page says :
the libraries of many universities include one or more samples of anthropodermic bibliopegy. the rare book collection at the harvard law school library holds a book that was long believed to be bound in human skin, practicarum quaestionum circa leges regias hispaniae, a treatise on spanish law, though testing on the binding has proven that it was bound in sheepskin. [ 2 ] a faint inscription on the last page of the book states :
number of anthropodermic books, dating back to around xvii century, survived. many of these volumes were books on medical subjects. the skin for binding once belonged people who bequeathed their bodies to medical sciences .
for years harvard suspected they had some examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy – des destinées de l’ame being one of them, and testing proved that volume was indeed human skin, as discussed above. however, one of the books suspected of being bound in human skin proved to be fake. practicarum quaestionum circa leges regias hispaniae by juan gutiérrez, bound at some point during the 17th century, contained this bizarre inscription on its last page :
there were others like it: not so ornate, perhaps, or so ambitious in their construction, but the raw materials remain the same, and such anthropodermic bindings are sought after items among collectors of a certain mien .
please note that i exercised some discretion that may seem offensive since i am not an antiquarian, book binder or scientist, but you will find that there are some “authentic books” that i think are unlikely to be bound in human skin. sometimes i left the books with questionable authenticity in the “real” sections and sometimes i put them in the “fake” section. generally the “authentic” examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy that i place in the hoaxes or disproved section are pretty egregious fakes .
this book is part of a museum exhibit in bristol and is one of the more popular exhibits. as i mentioned above, i found much of the squeamishness about anthropodermic bibliopegy strangely selective, but a librarian at the bristol museum that houses this book made clear her reservations about the john horwood tome. allie dillon, an archivist at the m shed museum where the book is kept, found the use of horwood’s skin for a book binding to be exceedingly cruel :
i don’t have any stories of anthropodermic bibliopegy to share, but do you recall a rumor (or a true story ?) that went around when poppy z. brite’s exquisite corpse came out, that there had been a warehouse fire resulting in one or more fatalities, and the first printing of that book was imbued with smoke from burnt humans? it’s been a while so i’m no longer clear on the details and i can’t find any reference to it online .
when the issue of anthropodermic bindings is discussed, for some it immediately raises comparisons with the purported nazi use of the skin of concentration camp victims for lampshades during world war ii. assuming these apocryphal stories are true, it seems that the standard practice of anthropodermic bibliopegy, while macabre, is substantially different from the nazi atrocities. most importantly, many of the examples of human bookbindings are voluntary – a person expressed a desire that his or her skin be used posthumously for bookbinding. even for those bindings made of medical cadavers, it seems less objectionable to bind an anatomy book with the skin of a willing medical subject than for a murderer and his accomplices to take trinkets from his murder victims .
wikipedia has an entry for anthropodermic bibliopegy, or the practice of binding books in human skin. a group of scholars and scientists have been working to test these books to see if they really are bound in human skin or not. last summer ucla library contacted with a science lab to find out once and for all if our little 1676 copy of relation des mouvemens de la ville de messine depuis l’année mdclxxi jusques á present is covered in a deceased human or some other creature .
on a daytrip to providence during fly - out week, i stumbled across an unusual and startling artifact on display at brown university’s john hay library – an anatomy book bound in human skin. while such specimens are unusual, they are not as rare as you might think. many older libraries and rare book collectors, including several at harvard and in the boston area, have an almost - literal skeleton in the closet: anthropodermic bibliopegy, the technical term for books bound in human skin .
because of my interest in true crime, i knew that there were instances wherein court records were bound in the skin of executed criminals. i was also familiar with a few examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy in pop culture, notably the evil dead films. but given the morbidity of the subject, i was surprised at how little i knew about these books, real or fictional. books, creepy things, unsettling representations of the dead – you’d think i would have been all over this topic by now .
three months after scientists at harvard confirmed that a 19th - century french treatise in one of its libraries was almost certainly bound in human skin, another institution has put a supposed anthropodermic binding in its possession to the test and come up wanting .
while books bound in human skin are now objects of fascination and revulsion, the practice was once somewhat common ,
writes heather cole, assistant curator of modern books and manuscripts at harvard' s houghton library .
termed anthropodermic bibliopegy, the binding of books in human skin has occurred at least since the 16th century. the confessions of criminals were occasionally bound in the skin of the convicted, or an individual might request to be memorialized for family or lovers in the form of a book .
dr. lindsey fitzharris is a medical historian who is currently a wellcome trust postdoctoral research fellow at queen mary university of london. she is the author and creator of the chirurgeon' s apprentice website and the youtube series under the knife. anthropodermic bibliopegy is one of her research interests, and the wellcome trust' s library is home to another book bound in human skin by dr. bouland that she examined in the course of her work. i reached out to dr. fitzharris to find out more on the subject .
what has been called
the most famous of all anthropodermic bindings
resides at james allen, who asked to have his memoir bound in his own skin and presented to a man he once tried to rob and admired for his bravery. [ 1 ]
anthropodermic bibliopegy, or books bound in human skin, are some of the most mysterious and misunderstood books in the world’s libraries and museums. the historical reasons behind their creation vary: 19th century doctors made them as personal keepsakes for their book collections or at the request of the state to further punish executed prisoners. persistent rumors exist about french revolutionary origins as well. the best evidence most of these alleged skin books have ever had were rumors and perhaps a pencil - written note inside that said “bound in human skin”… until now .
tagged :
the hound
, andrea vesalius, anthropodermic bibliopegy, arsène houssaye, chuck palahniuk, dance of death, daniel k. smith, de sade, dr. charles humberd, dr. john hough, dr. joseph leidy, evil dead, father henry garnet, george cudmore, h. p. lovecraft, james allen, james johnson, john horwood, ludovic bouland, mary lynch, milton, mütter museum, necronomicon, sam loveman, samuel johnson, the morbid anatomy anthology, william corder, william hare
yes that’s right, human skin; it’s not just in the realms of horror that a book is bound in the flayed skin of a human being, it was quite the fashion statement in the late 16th, early 17th century and continued right up until the mid to late 19th century with many examples coming from executed criminals. the practice seems to be inextricably intertwined with the practice of tanning human skin after a cadaver had been used for dissection purposes, however and why ever it happened there are still examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy around today .
the mütter museum of the college of physicians of philadelphia currently has the largest collection of books bound in human skin in the usa, counting five total volumes, three of which were bound in skin from a single donor. all five have been tested according to modern standards and the bindings have been proven to be of human origin. the mütter museum has formed a team to try to create a comprehensive list of all the examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy, encouraging institutions to test all the books in their collections that are alleged to be bound in human skin :
on its face this one seems unlikely. devout muslims frown even on cremation – it’s hard to imagine a devout muslim (or any devout member of any abrahamic religion) asking to be flayed posthumously if they won’t even consider being rendered into ashes. this particular example of potential anthropodermic bibliopegy caused some upset in part of the muslim community when it appeared in assorted news articles online. in january 2006 islamic community net contacted the cleveland public library to challenge the notion that any koran could be bound in the skin of a muslim true believer. the library responded :
mr. gordon, working with two juniata professors, sent samples from the book’s binding in may to the harvard lab that had confirmed the french treatise as bound in human skin. (scientists there previously found that another supposed anthropodermic binding in harvard’s collection was actually sheepskin. )
last june, harvard university conclusively confirmed the existence of a book bound in human skin (also known as anthropodermic bibliopegy) as part of their collection at houghton library. the book is a 19th - century copy of arsène houssaye' s des destinées de l' ame. houssaye provided the manuscript to his friend dr. ludovic bouland, a well - known physician, and, according to the houghton library blog ,
bouland bound the book with skin from the unclaimed body of a female mental patient who had died of a stroke .
the 19th century, everyone !
if you don' t want spend $ 11, 000, you can see examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy in many university and national libraries. one of the prime places to see such work is the mutter museum at the college of physicians of philadelphia, where you can also check out einstein' s brain during the visit. the university of california - berkeley' s bancroft library, brown university, surgeons' hall museum in edinburgh, and the national library of australia also carry examples in their holdings. they probably will not let you touch the books, but then again, would you want to ?
in the 19th century, book bindings in human skin captured the romantic notions of the upper class, and anthropodermic bindings became more common. a frequent subject of such bindings were anatomy textbooks, which doctors and medical students may have had bound in the skin of cadavers they had dissected. an early example is the anthropodermic book found in brown’s john hay library, vesalius’ classic work of anatomy, de humanis corporis fabrica (on the fabric of the human body). the close association of medical and legal gentry of the day led to more than a few law books bound in a similar manner .
not too much about book history can be considered ghastly or morbid. but as you gear up for halloween this year, don’t disregard the rumors lurking in the stacks: some books throughout history were bound in human flesh. anthropodermic bibliopegy, the academic term for books bound in human skin, fascinates many students and researchers around the world. there are a handful of books living in universities, museums, and private collections across the globe with these rumors attached, and to the excitement of some — and the horror of others — several have been scientifically proven true: they are indeed bound in the flesh of humans .
harvard university revealed in 2006 that at least three of the 15m volumes in its libraries were thought to be bound in human skin – a practice known as anthropodermic bibliopegy. the yellow and brown splotched binding of practicarum quaestionum circa leges regias hispaniae (the title is a treatise on spanish law published around the start of the 17th century) was believed to be one of these books, largely because of the inscription on the final page, which continues :
king mbesa did give me the book, it being one of poore jonas chiefe possessions, together with ample of his skin to bynd it. requiescat in pace .
when did anthropodermic bibliopegy stop being practiced? it definitely goes into the late 19th century. one of the reasons was just views on capital punishment. eventually the murder act is overturned, so that means that murderers aren' t dissected. suddenly the concept of donating one' s body comes in. and since i would say a lot of these skin books are usually criminals and their skin is used to bind books about their crimes, i think that leads to a decline in it. there' s probably a lot of different reasons. but i definitely see skin books as part of the history of crime and punishment .
in 2006, a 300 - year - old ledger was discovered in downtown leeds, england. it was found in the wake of a bungled burglary attempt. not much is known about this ledger. however, it is of some curiosity that this ledger was written in french and dated back to the 1700s. this suggests that it might have been made during the french revolution, a time when anthropodermic bibliopegy gained popularity. if this was indeed made during the french revolution, then this ledger can stand beside other documents such as the rights of man and the french constitution of 1793 which are also believed to have copies bound in human flesh .
anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. though extremely uncommon in modern times, the technique dates back to at least the 17th century. the practice is inextricably connected with the practice of tanning human skin, often done in certain circumstances after a corpse has been dissected. surviving historical examples of this technique include anatomy texts bound with the skin of dissected cadavers, volumes created as a bequest and bound with the skin of the testator, and copies of judicial proceedings bound in the skin of the murderer convicted in those proceedings, such as in the case of john horwood in 1821 and the red barn murder in 1828. [ wikipedia ]
juniata college in pennsylvania believed they had a skin - bound book in their collection and the testing harvard did on their suspected examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy inspired the college to test their own. the volume, biblioteca politica, is a collection of latin essays, published in 17th century france. inscribed on a front page is an assertion that the book is bound in human skin, but testing in 2014 at harvard showed the book is actually bound in sheepskin. though this may be a blow to the college, it may be a boon for librarians because the book had become a popular morbidity among the students, who flowed into the library asking to see the book every semester .
is it true the john hay library has books bound in human skin? yes, special collections has four anthropodermic books. testing in april, 2015, confirmed the books are bound in human skin (or a closely related primate). these rare books are only made available for scholarly research in order to protect the bindings .
though no examples ever emerged of anthropodermic bibliopegy from nazi concentration and death camps, misuse of jewish skin did happen during the holocaust. there are extant examples of nazi prisoners who were skinned after death, mostly skin with tattoos. however, there is no proof to the rumors that ilsa koch bound photo albums in jewish skin or that there were copies of mein kampf bound in human skin. history is rife with examples of conquerors flaying their enemies or victims and displaying their skins in some manner – in this grisly regard, nazis had plenty of company. but just like the myth of the lampshades, the idea that nazis used human skin to bind books is not based in fact .
the historical medical library (hml), located within the mütter museum in philadelphia, proclaims to house the largest collection of confirmed anthropodermic bindings in the united states. in march of 2015, the hml invited dr. richard hark of juniata college to take samples of their five rumored anthropodermic books and dr. daniel kirby confirmed that they are, in fact, bound in human skin. through inscriptions and historical documentation, we know that three of the five books share a mysterious past: all bound at the hands of dr. john stockton hough, and all bound in the skin mary lynch, a tuberculosis patient at the philadelphia general hospital, who died in 1869 .
follicle pattern recognition is another method often employed to test alleged anthropodermic books. the premise of this test is that human follicle patterns on skin are arranged in different shapes than other animals. however this test can be rather subjective, as one woman’s triangle pattern might be another’s diamond, and processes of tanning and stretching leather can distort natural patterns .
the primary area in which moral equivalence may be questionable is in the case of anthropodermic bindings made from executed criminals, who have arguably been murdered themselves, depending on your view of capital punishment. but even in those cases, it still seems to that such bindings were done with more respect, and have a far different purpose than trophies of war and genocide .
what has been called
the most famous of all anthropodermic bindings
resides at boston athenaeum, titled the highwayman: narrative of the life of james allen alias george walton. it is by james allen, who asked to have his memoir bound in his own skin and presented to a man he once tried to rob and admired for his bravery. [ 1 ]
surviving historical examples of this technique include anatomy texts bound with the skin of dissected cadavers, volumes created as a bequest and bound with the skin of the testator (known as
autoanthropodermic bibliopegy
), and copies of judicial proceedings bound in the skin of the murderer convicted in those proceedings, such as in the case of john horwood in 1821 and the red barn murder in 1828 .
there’s a sort of colonial approach to book binding with human skin that i could initially dismiss but became more and more evident as i read about anthropodermic bibliopegy. this can be seen especially in a book that is kept at the john hay library at brown university. a copy of andrea vesalius’ de humani corporis fabrica, a beautiful 16th century text full of detailed drawings of human dissection, was bound in human skin and presented to king leopold ii of belgium. i cannot find anything about the donor of the skin and when that is the case i tend to lean toward the skin being less donated than harvested without consent, but it is interesting that this book bound in skin was presented to this particular king. from the article in the morbid anatomy anthology :
,
are some of the most mysterious and misunderstood books in the world’s libraries and museums. the historical reasons behind their creation vary [... ] the best evidence most of these alleged skin books have ever had were rumors and perhaps a pencil - written note inside that said' bound in human skin'... until now .
anthropodermic biblipegy on metafilter
what about rumors that human skin was used to bind a copy of mein kampf or the photo albums of ilse koch, “the beast of buchenwald” and other nazis? kipperman says he is unaware of any nazi anthropodermic bindings and has personally examined many of the souvenir photo albums alleged to be bound in human skin but hasn’t found any evidence of human skin bindings in his extensive research .
most of the examples of anthropodermic biblopegy that we have date back to the 1800s; examples include harvard university’s copy of des destinees de l’ame (circa 1885), two copies of hans holbein’s the dance of death (one from 1816, the other from 1898) at brown university, and an elementary treatise on human anatomy (circa 1861) at the college of physicians of philadelphia .
but if using the bodies of dead criminals to bind books seems callous and macabre, doubly so was the use of bodies of mental patients or people whose only crime in life was to die sick, poor or alone. the book that spurred the renewed interest in anthropodermic bibliopegy in spring / summer 2014 is unremarkable to look at, though if you click the image to see a larger version, you will see, very clearly, pores and blemishes that give pause when you remember this book was bound in human skin. when subjected to tests, it was proved that a book from harvard’s houghton library, was indeed bound in human skin, giving credence to the explanation penned inside the book, that the book was bound in the skin taken from the corpse of a woman who died in a mental hospital and whose body was unclaimed .
even without peptide mass fingerprinting, i think we can safely say this story is questionable at best. various sources with more cachet than top ten list sites and pinterest state that there are no known 20th century examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy, so that lends some credence to my knee - jerk response that the story behind this book is a load of pants. also i encourage anyone who reads here to search for facts about the aguadilla tribe in the mayaguez plateau region and if you find anything at all about current skinning of the dead in puerto rico, let me know and i’ll edit this entry. in fact, information about any aguadilla native tribe anywhere would be helpful because the native tribes in aguadilla and mayaguez were the taíno tribe. i think this was a nice story created before the internet came to make it hard to pull off such nonsense. there are pictures of the actual book online but i didn’t put one in this article because they are all quite blurry .
this book was a recollection of failure and subsequent arrest and execution of the gunpowder plotters. the gunpowder plotters were a group of catholic rebels who in 1605 tried to kill the protestant king james i of england, his eldest son, and much of the english court and government. their plan was to explode gunpowder during a session of the houses of parliament. the attempt, which was later named the gunpowder plot of 1605, failed. the participants were all discovered and executed. the most famous of these was guy fawkes. however, one of his co - conspirators was father henry garnet, the head of the jesuits in england. it was his flesh which was used after his execution to bind this book. the book has a latin inscription on its cover which, when translated, reads “severe penitence punished the flesh. ” this is one of the most famous examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy since many believe that you can make out the father’s face, forever twisted in agony, on its cover .
william corder’s court proceedings were bound in his skin and his case was the sole example of real anthropodermic bibliopegy i was aware of before i began reading about the topic, a bit of knowledge from my time as a minor expert in murders. william corder impregnated an irish girl named maria marten. he convinced her he wanted to marry her and lured her to her death, killing her and burying her inside a red barn, causing the case to be referred to as the red barn murder. maria’s stepmother had recurring dreams of her buried at the red barn and eventually authorities investigated and found her remains. corder was tried for her murder, convicted and then executed. as done with many executed criminals, his body ended up dissected in a medical school and his skin was preserved and used to bind the court proceedings from his trial. the book is on display at the moyse’s hall museum in bury st. edmunds, suffolk. george creed, the surgeon who flayed him, left this inscription in the book :
on facing the gallows, walton stipulated a copy of his memoirs be bound in his own skin and given to john fenno, a man whom walton had attempted to rob on the massachusetts turnpike. fenno had so impressed walton by bravely resisting the robbery attempt, weathering a gunshot wound, and assisting in bringing the highwayman to justice that walton honoured his victim with this macabre anthropodermic bibliopegic gift. after walton’s execution the book was delivered to fenno whose relatives eventually donated it to the boston athenaeum, where it remains today .
interestingly, anthropodermic biblopegy doesn’t appear to be that old a practice — only a few centuries, perhaps. one of the earliest mentions we’ve seen of it occurred in merkwürdige reisen durch niedersachsen, holland und engelland (roughly in english, strange trips through lower saxony, holland, and england), travel writing by german scholar zacharias conrad von uffenbach about his journeys from 1709 to 1711. the book was published in 1753 and included this bit about bremen, which he visited in 1710 (translated by lawrence s. thompson) :
the first reliable examples of anthropodermic bindings come from the 17th century, but the practice really seems to have taken off during the french revolution. the derma of victims of that bloodthirsty terror were sometimes used to bind books by its proponents; among other anthropodermically bound documents from that period are a copy of the rights of man and several copies of the french constitution of 1793. from at least this time forward, titillating tales about the mistreatment of human skin became a popular propagandistic tool, used in not only the french revolution but also the american civil war, and world wars i & ii .
john stockon - hough, who experimented with anthropodermic binding during the late nineteenth century reported that most human skin is fairly coarse - grained; he had managed to obtain a sample which was
almost indistinguishable
from pigskin, but that came from a woman' s thigh. the material used to bind the garnet book appears quite fine - grained from the photographs, and without evidence to the contrary it seems just as likely that it' s a standard form of vellum rather than treated human skin. i suppose a close examination would answer this question, so if any experts in vellum bindings near doncaster have a go at it, i' d appreciate your thoughts .
by jade alburo | saving the world one book at a time. sort of. not really .
over the past week, the ucla’s charles e. young research library (yrl) has been featuring “scary” books from its special collections on its facebook page. i think that is a fantastic idea, a great way of showcasing some of our fabulous materials. oliver mattheusens, a library assistant in my department, has certainly been enjoying himself in coming up with the materials and the status updates. he actually has a lot more stories to tell about these books, but doesn’t have the time to write up an involved post. so, i’m copying his facebook posts, with some minor editing, into this blog post so that it’s easier to read and follow (that timeline just doesn’t make for easy reading !). mostly copying, that is. i’ll do some editing, paraphrasing, and adding of more information, as well as some of my own and others’ comments.
anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin . as of april 2016 , the anthropodermic book project " has identified 47 alleged anthropodermic books in the world 's libraries and museums . of those , 30 books have been tested or are in the process of being tested . seventeen of the books have been confirmed as having human skin bindings and nine were proven to be not of human origin but of sheep , pig , cow , or other animals . " ( the confirmed figures as of may 2017 have increased to 18 bindings identified as human and 13 disproved . )
anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. as of april 2016, the anthropodermic book project " has identified 47 alleged anthropodermic books in the world's libraries and museums. of those, 30 books have been tested or are in the process of being tested. seventeen of the books have been confirmed as having human skin bindings and nine were proven to be not of human origin but of sheep, pig, cow, or other animals. " ( the confirmed figures as of may 2017 have increased to 18 bindings identified as human and 13 disproved. )
anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. as of april 2016, the anthropodermic book project " has identified 47 alleged anthropodermic books in the world's libraries and museums. of those, 30 books have been tested or are in the process of being tested. seventeen of the books have been confirmed as having human skin bindings and nine were proven to be not of human origin but of sheep, pig, cow, or other animals. " ( the confirmed figures as of may 2017 have increased to 18 bindings identified as human and 13 disproved. )