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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
XaviusSabor de Soledad
Posts: 32,290 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: NM |
Oh my god.. it's.. PEOPLEEEEEE!!!! Some of nation's best libraries have books bound in human skinBy M.L. Johnson, Associated Press Writer | January 7, 2006 PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Brown University's library boasts an unusual anatomy book. Tanned and polished to a smooth golden brown, its cover looks and feels no different from any other fine leather. Article Tools Printer friendly Single page E-mail to a friend R.I. RSS feed Available RSS feeds Most e-mailed More: Globe City/Region stories | Latest local news | Globe front page | Boston.com Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts But here's its secret: the book is bound in human skin. A number of prestigious libraries -- including Harvard University's -- have such books in their collections. While the idea of making leather from human skin seems bizarre and cruel today, it was not uncommon in centuries past, said Laura Hartman, a rare book cataloger at the National Library of Medicine in Maryland and author of a paper on the subject. An article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from the late 1800s "suggests that it was common, but it also indicates it wasn't talked about in polite society," Hartman said. The best libraries then belonged to private collectors. Some were doctors who had access to skin from amputated parts and patients whose bodies were not claimed. They found human leather to be relatively cheap, durable and waterproof, Hartman said. In other cases, wealthy bibliophiles may have acquired the skin from criminals who were executed, cadavers used in medical schools and people who died in the poor house, said Sam Streit, director of Brown's John Hay Library. The library has three books bound in human skin -- the anatomy text and two 19th century editions of "The Dance of Death," a medieval morality tale. One copy of "The Dance of Death" dates to 1816 but was rebound in 1893 by Joseph Zaehnsdorf, a master binder in London. A note to his client reports that he did not have enough skin and had to split it. The front cover, bound in the outer layer of the epidermis, has a slightly bumpy texture, like soft sandpaper. The spine and back cover, made from the inner layer of skin, feels like suede. Zaehnsdorf probably left the covers plain to showcase the material, Streit said. Brown's other "Dance of Death" edition, done in 1898, is more elaborately decorated with inlays of black leather and a gold-tooled skull. But a closer examination reveals the pores of the skin's former owner. The story, Streit said, is about how death prevails over all, rich or poor. As with many of the skin-bound books, "there was some tie in with the content of the book," he said. While human leather may be repulsive to contemporary society, libraries can ethically have the books in their collections if they are used respectfully for academic research and not displayed as objects of curiosity, says Paul Wolpe of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. "There is a certain distancing that history gives us from certain kinds of artifacts," Wolpe said, noting that museums often have bones from archaeological sites. "If you had called me and said these are books from Nazi Germany, I would have a very different response." Page 2 of 2 --The Boston Athenaeum, a private library, has an 1837 copy of George Walton's memoirs bound in his own skin. Walton was a highwayman -- a robber who specialized in ambushing travelers -- and he left the volume to one of his victims, John Fenno. Fenno's daughter gave it to the library. Article Tools Printer friendly Single page E-mail to a friend R.I. RSS feed Available RSS feeds Most e-mailed More: Globe City/Region stories | Latest local news | Globe front page | Boston.com Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts The Cleveland Public Library has a Quran that may have been bound in the skin of its previous owner, an Arab tribal leader. Pam Eyerdam, head of the library's fine arts and special collections department, said he may have wanted to immortalize himself. "People kept their family histories written in Bibles, and what is a Quran?" she said. Many of the volumes bound in human skin are medical books. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia has four bound by Dr. John Stockton Hough, known for diagnosing the city's first case of trichinosis. He used that patient's skin to bind three of the volumes. "The hypothesis that I was suggesting is that these physicians did this to honor the people who furthered medical research," Hartman said. It's not clear whether the patients knew what would happen to their bodies. In most cases, the skin appears to have come from poor people who had no one to claim their remains. Hough's patient was a 28-year-old Irish widow. "Chances are she was very poor," Hartman said. "I don't know the family situation, but maybe no one came to claim the body?" In most cases, universities and other libraries acquired the books as donations or as part of collections they purchased. An alumnus donated the anatomy book to Brown. A 1568 edition of Belgian surgeon Andreas Vesalius' "De Humani Corporis Fabrica," it was a primary anatomy text for centuries and is still used by classes, Streit said. The Harvard Law School Library bought its copy of a 1605 practice manual for Spanish lawyers decades ago, for $42.50 from an antiquarian books dealer in New Orleans. It sat on a shelf unnoticed until the early 1990s, when curator David Ferris was going through the library catalogue and saw a note, copied from inside the cover, saying it was bound in the skin of a man named Jonas Wright. DNA tests were inconclusive -- the genetic material having been destroyed by the tanning process -- but the library had a box made to store the book and now keeps it on a special shelf. "We felt we couldn't set it just next to someone else's law books," Ferris said. http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2006/01/07/some_of_nations_best_libraries_have_books_bound_in_human_skin/?page=2 ___________________  I was young and confused and your mom didn't want me around no more. Now pass me dem damn collard greens! |
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
A-kornBoom Boom
Posts: 625 Join Date: Oct 2003 |
Damn, thats pretty freaky. Iv heard about removing skins with cool tatoos on them, (somwhere in asia i think?) but thats just pretty crazy. Well that settles it, im contributing my skin to the family album for my kids, if i ever have any. *edit* i may have just killed the thread with my post. Im sorry Xavius  ___________________ <(^^^)> next gen three eyed monstah! 
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
KuribooSuper
Posts: 12,190 Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: A Galaxy far far away.... |
Cool.  Yet disturbing.___________________ Mario's Bitch |
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
bleeper2.0Livid
Posts: 6,522 Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: London |
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
MrSnugglesBanned
Posts: 8,229 Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Land of the free, home of the brave |
there should be a law against that. ___________________ JFK: Ich bin ein Berliner BHO: Ich bin ein beginner |
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
BlitzkriegThrashBanned
Posts: 361 Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: HAPPY LAND! BE HAPPY! |
first thing that popped into my mind: ___________________ 
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
CoconutCan has custom title?
Posts: 15,975 Join Date: May 2002 |
This description "bound in the outer layer of the epidermis, has a slightly bumpy texture, like soft sandpaper. The spine and back cover, made from the inner layer of skin, feels like suede." makes it sound so... sensual? |
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
ChronoSomebody To Love
Posts: 6,104 Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Got no feelin, Got no Rhythm, |
TOMB OF ETERNAL DARKNESSSSSSSSS ___________________  http://swagbucks.com/refer/migetmonkee91 Don't doubt this site, sign up with my link and read the instructions. It rules! |
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
Ninjazn.ninja
Posts: 4,753 Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Richmond, VA |
Thats so wrong... ___________________  Quote: "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. " Xbox Live GT: Dr Applebee |
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
Dragon164zD r a g o n 1 6 4 z
Posts: 6,327 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Southern CT |
It's Tome of Eternal Darkness you fucking retard. |
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
comatoseManic mouser ^_^
Posts: 1,940 Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bombing your nightmares. |
Totally unethical, wrong, and nasty. ___________________ 
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
MrSnugglesBanned
Posts: 8,229 Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Land of the free, home of the brave |
people get banned around here a lot lately? ___________________ JFK: Ich bin ein Berliner BHO: Ich bin ein beginner |
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
CoconutCan has custom title?
Posts: 15,975 Join Date: May 2002 |
AND THEN TURNED INTO BOOKS O_o |
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| NerdTuesday, January 10th 2006. | |
DenebMegalomaniac
Posts: 3,090 Join Date: Feb 2003 |
I was hoping for one of those books to be titled: "How To Serve Humans".  ___________________ Thank you! When the world is mine, your death shall be quick and painless. Wii ID: 5013 6985 4543 8268 PM me if I've been added |
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| NerdWednesday, January 11th 2006. | |
NephandWhomp
Posts: 285 Join Date: Dec 2002 |
I'm betting someone bound the Bible in jewish foreskin just to see if there'd be divine intervention. ___________________ Beautiful Dance Whore 
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| NerdWednesday, January 11th 2006. | |
XaviusSabor de Soledad
Posts: 32,290 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: NM |
^^ pure blasphemous genius. ___________________ I was young and confused and your mom didn't want me around no more. Now pass me dem damn collard greens! |
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| NerdWednesday, January 11th 2006. | |
DolphinThanks for all the fish.
Posts: 2,428 Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Michigan |
Meh, most of those books sound like they're pretty respectful of the former owners of the skin, so that's fine with me. It crosses a line in my mind for a doctor to use human skin from an unclaimed body to bind a book though. Reminds me of this: www.bodyworlds.com There's definitely something that can be said for immortalizing a person by using their skin to bind a family tome. In our society some people make diamonds out of the remains of their relatives, the practices aren't very different. |
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