List of books bound in human skin

Last updated

A copy of De integritatis et corruptionis virginum notis kept in the Wellcome Library, believed to be bound in human skin S. Pinaeus, De integritatis et corruptionis virginum... Wellcome L0030772.jpg
A copy of De integritatis et corruptionis virginum notis kept in the Wellcome Library, believed to be bound in human skin

Anthropodermic bibliopegy —the binding of books in human skin—peaked in the 19th century. The practice was most popular amongst doctors, who had access to cadavers in their profession. It was nonetheless a rare phenomenon even at the peak of its popularity, and fraudulent claims were commonplace; by 2020, the Anthropodermic Book Project had confirmed the existence of 18 books bound in human skin, out of 31 tested cases. [1] [2]

Contents

The ability to unequivocally identify book bindings as being of human skin dates only to the mid-2010s. For many years, identification tended to be visual, based predominantly on the structure of pores such as hair follicles in the skin. This could be combined with evidence as circumstantial as the bindings being of subjectively poor quality—taken as a sign the skin used was acquired through suspicious means. In the early twenty-first century, DNA testing emerged as a potential means of identification, but this was confounded by human handling; items frequently touched by human hands could produce false positives, as tests would pick up on their remnants. [3] DNA testing also proved non-viable owing to the degradation of DNA over time and the acceleration of such degradation by the tanning process used to turn skin into leather. [4] The development of peptide mass fingerprinting permitted conclusive testing and became the gold standard method. The first book confirmed as authentic through its use was in 2014; it was a copy of Des destinées de l'ame by the French philosopher Arsène Houssaye, held in the Houghton Library of Harvard University. [3] [4] [5] Ten years later, Harvard University removed the book's anthropodermic bindings. [6]

Not all putatively anthropodermic books have been subject to such testing. A library or archive may decline testing if their policies prohibit any technically destructive tests; peptide mass fingerprinting requires removing a minuscule portion of the book's bindings. Other collections may be unwilling to suffer possible negative publicity if a book is confirmed as bound in human skin. [7] Many others still remain to be tested, including those bound in the skin of executed criminals. While such books are generally treated as legitimate, due to their clear provenance compared to the mysterious or untraceable origins of most anthropodermic books, it is possible individual cases may be fraudulent. Such cases are further complicated by requests by descendants to return such books to the families, after which they may be buried or destroyed before they can be tested. [8]

Themes emerge in what purportedly anthropodermic books turn out to be legitimate or illegitimate. Books that call attention to the race of those whose skin was used to bind them, for instance, generally turn out to be frauds. Most legitimate anthropodermic books were owned or bound by physicians, and many of them are dedicated to the practice of medicine. In her book Dark Archives , the anthropodermic bibliopegy expert Megan Rosenbloom connects this to changing standards of medical ethics and the relatively recent emergence of the concept of consent in medicine. [2] [9] [10]

Confirmed

Books confirmed through peptide mass fingerprinting
BookLocationNotesRef(s)
Narrative of the Life of James Allen (1837, James Allen) Boston Athenæum The deathbed confession of James Allen, a nineteenth-century highwayman in Massachusetts. He requested a copy of his printed memoirs be bound in his skin and gifted to John Fenno, a man who had resisted Allen's attempt to rob him; it is the only known anthropodermic book bound with the consent of its source. Before being bequeathed to the Athenæum, Fenno's copy was reportedly kept in the family home and used to spank his children.
Le traicté de Peyne: poëme allégorique dédié à Monseigneur et à Madame de Lorraynne (16th century, anonymous) Grolier Club A BDSM-oriented erotic poem, and the only known example of anthropodermic erotica. The anthropodermic copy is a nineteenth-century printing. Rosenbloom gives the book as an example of the diversity of anthropodermic books; prior to its confirmation, she and the Anthropodermic Book Project assumed there were no authentic examples of erotica bound in human skin.
Recueil des secrets (1635, Louise Boursier) College of Physicians of Philadelphia A compilation of contemporary folk remedies by Boursier, the sage-femme (midwife) to the court, shortly following her retreat from court facing pressure from male physicians. The anthropodermic copy is from the collection of John Stockton Hough, a nineteenth-century physician and bibliophile who bound three books in the skin of Mary Lynch, an impoverished young Irish émigré he autopsied in 1869 and diagnosed with Philadelphia's first recorded case of trichinosis.
Les nouvelles découvertes sur toutes les parties principales de l’homme, et de la femme (1680, Louis Barles) College of Physicians of Philadelphia Another book from Hough's collection believed to be bound in Lynch's skin.
Speculations on the Mode and Appearances of Impregnation in the Human Female (1789, Robert Couper) College of Physicians of Philadelphia Another book from Hough's collection believed to be bound in Lynch's skin.
De conceptione adversaria (1686, Charles Drelincourt) College of Physicians of Philadelphia Hough's fourth book in the collection of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia; like Recueil des secrets and Speculations on the Mode and Appearances of Impregnation in the Human Female, about reproduction. Speculated to be bound in the skin of Thomas McCloskey, who died in the Philadelphia General Hospital in February 1869.
Catalog des sciences médicales (1865, Bibliothèque nationale) Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania Another book from Hough's collection, potentially bound by Hough himself. Though all of Hough's anthropodermic books were bound in the late 1880s, the skin used for this book seems to have been acquired shortly prior to its binding, rather than the cases of Lynch and McCloskey, who died decades before and whose skins were kept over that time. The book is a catalogue of medical incunabula (early printed books of Europe). Rosenbloom described the work as "like a nineteenth-century library's equivalent of a phone directory" and expressed her surprise when the book was confirmed authentic, due to its tonal dissimilarity to other known anthropodermic books.
An Elementary Treatise on Human Anatomy (1861, Joseph Leidy) College of Physicians of Philadelphia One of Leidy's personal copies of his anatomical treatise and self-declared magnum opus. Leidy, an anatomist and paleontologist, volunteered as a surgeon and scientific researcher for the Civil War effort; he bound one of his copies of the book in the skin of a soldier killed in action.
De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (1543, Andreas Vesalius) John Hay Library, Brown University A "text on human dissection"; two reportedly anthropodermic copies were bound by Josse Schavye  [ nl ] during the 1860s. The copy at Brown was sold to alumnus William Louttit Jr in 1874 and eventually bequeathed to the university; it was confirmed as anthropodermic in 2015. The other copy's fate is unclear. Reportedly added to the Belgian royal family's personal library by King Albert I (countering a claim it was once owned by Leopold II), it has not been accounted for since the 1990s.
Anatomy Epitomized and Illustrated (1682, Thomas Gibson) Huntington Library An early anatomy manual, given by Rosenbloom as a representative example of known anthropodermic books.
Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773, Phillis Wheatley) Cincinnati Public Library; University of Cincinnati A collection of poems by Wheatley, the first African-American woman to publish a book, is one of very few works with multiple known anthropodermic copies. It is unclear why these copies were so bound; some have speculated they may be racially motivated, but no evidence supports the belief. Other anthropodermic books that claim racial motivations have been found inauthentic.
Dance of Death (1526, Hans Holbein the Younger) John Hay Library, Brown University Two printings of Holbein's Dance of Death woodcuts, from 1816 and 1898 respectively, are confirmed to be bound in human skin. Reports predating peptide mass fingerprinting state that there are six anthropodermic copies.
Mademoiselle Giraud, My Wife (1891, Adolphe Belot) John Hay Library, Brown University An English translation of a French work, a tale of a man's mental breakdown following his lesbian wife leaving him; described by Jacob Gordon, special collections librarian at Juniata College, as Lovecraftian in its sensibility. Gordon describes the book's 2015 confirmation as anthropodermic as granting "unfortunate credence to the more dubious claims of erotic works bound in skin from a woman's breast".
"The Gold-Bug" (1843, Edgar Allan Poe)Private collectionPoe's breakthrough novelette, which had a hand in a contemporary fashion for cryptography. Held by a French collector, one of the few confirmed anthropodermic works in private collections. An inscription on the flyleaf referencing the copy's anthropodermic provenance is attributed to Charles Erskine Scott Wood, and implies it may have once been owned by John Steinbeck.
Essai sur les lieux et les dangers des sépultures (1778, Félix Vicq-d'Azyr) Royal Library of Belgium Mentioned in Rosenbloom's list of confirmed anthropodermic books, without further detail.
Nazi photo album Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum A Nazi photo album likely created at the Buchenwald concentration camp from the skin of Holocaust victims. The book was confirmed by researchers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in 2020 to be made of human skin with fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy.

Supposed

Suspected but unconfirmed cases
BookLocationNotesRef(s)
De integritatis et corruptionis virginum notis (1597, Séverin Pineau) Wellcome Library A "frank treatise on virginity"; like Des destinées de l'ame, bound by bookbinder Ludovic Bouland reportedly in a woman's skin. Though the book has not been subject to peptide mass fingerprinting, follicle inspection in 2002 concluded it was authentic. Rosenbloom considers it authentic based on this analysis and Bouland's history.
Justine (1791, Marquis de Sade) and Juliette (1797, Marquis de Sade)Presumed private collectionLong-standing rumours exist that copies of one or both of de Sade's erotic novels Justine and Juliette have been bound in human skin. No evidence exists that any library holds or has held potential anthropodermic copies of either.
Éloge du sein des femmes (18th century, Claude-François-Xavier Mercier de Compiègne)Private collectionLa reliure française de 1900 à 1925, a 1932 reference work on French bookbinding, suggests several anthropodermic books were kept in private collections in France at the time. Photographic evidence exists for a copy of Éloge du sein des femmes (transl. "In Praise of Women's Breasts") bound in human skin with a visible nipple on the front cover.
Anthropodermic BiblesVariousSeveral claims exist regarding copies of the Bible bound in human skin. Rosenbloom refers to three medieval Bibles in the Bibliothèque nationale de France rumoured to be anthropodermic; none are available for testing. A Chinese copy of the New Testament reportedly bound in human skin is held by the library of the American Philosophical Society.
Pamphlets by Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (between 1736–1741) Lane Medical Library, Stanford University Albinus, an anatomist and professor of medicine at Leiden University, published six pamphlets between 1736 and 1741 on subjects such as neuroanatomy, the origin of skin colour variation, and the anatomy of the penis. The printings of these pamphlets kept at the Lane Medical Library are reported to be bound in human skin; the library refuses testing.
The Poetical Works of Rogers, Campbell, J. Montgomery, Lamb, and Kirke White (1829, compilation) National Library of Australia A collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century poetry bequeathed to the library in 1917 by the bookseller Edward Petherick. In 1992, pathologists tested the connective tissues of samples of the binding and concluded with "99 percent confidence" the book was anthropodermic. The library considers it confirmed and does not wish to submit it to further testing.
[3]
Pocketbook Wellcome Library A pocketbook reportedly bound in the skin of Crispus Attucks, traditionally believed to be the first American killed in the American Revolution. An attached label reads "The cover of this book is made of Tanned Skin from the Negro whose Execution caused the War of Independence". While it has not been subject to peptide mass fingerprinting, analysts consider the work a forgery likely made of camel, horse, or goat hide.
The Chronicles of Nawat Wuzeer Hyderabad (1848, anonymous) Newberry Library Reportedly "found in the Palace of the King of Delhi" in 1857, with a note stating it was bound in human skin. The book came to wide attention following the 2003 publication of The Time Traveler's Wife , where the protagonist, a librarian at the Newberry Library, referred to its existence. Following this recognition, conservation staff who visually analyzed the book concluded it was bound in goatskin.
[3]
Les terres du Ciel (1884, Camille Flammarion)Library in Juvisy-sur-Orge Held in a library c. 1924, location now unknown. The book is described as bound in the skin of a woman called the "Countess of Saint-Angel", described by the anthropologist Jennifer Kerner as "a charming name, though certainly not her own".
An Authentic and Faithful History of the Mysterious Murder of Maria Marten (c. 1828, James Curtis) Moyse's Hall In 1827, a young woman named Maria Marten was murdered by her lover William Corder in what came to be known as the Red Barn Murder. The murder was discovered by Marten's stepmother Ann following a year of recurring dreams after her stepdaughter's disappearance. Following Corder's execution, his skin was used to bind his trial transcript. This book, like other books bound in the skin of criminals, is not officially confirmed; while such works are considered functionally confirmed due to their clear provenance, it cannot be ruled out that any individual copy is a hoax.
[8]
The Poetical Works of John Milton (1807, John Milton) Devon Heritage Centre The ratcatcher George Cudmore was convicted of poisoning his wife and hanged in 1830; his skin was reportedly used to bind an 1852 printing of Milton's collected works.
Trial transcript (1821) M Shed 18-year-old John Horwood was hanged for murder at New Gaol, Bristol in 1821, becoming the first person executed there. His trial transcripts were bound with his skin. Later research raised questions about whether he was innocent, and his skeleton, formerly kept alongside the book at the M Shed museum, was repatriated to his descendants in 2011.
Pocketbook (1829) Surgeons' Hall Museum A pocketbook made from the skin of William Burke, one of the perpetrators of the Burke and Hare murders; he and his accomplice Hare murdered sixteen people to sell their bodies to surgeons for dissection, profiting from the bustling trade in body-snatching. Rosenbloom described it as the "most famous of all the alleged human skin books".

Inauthentic

Confirmed forgeries
BookLocationNotesRef(s)
Opera Joannis Pici Mirandule (1504, collected works) Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame The collected works of the Italian Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, reportedly bound in the skin of a "Moorish chieftan" by Sebastian Carroll Braganza de la Coralla, a fabulist and supposed member of the Spanish nobility. Peptide mass fingerprinting confirmed the binding to be pigskin. Rosenbloom gives the work as an example of how supposedly anthropodermic books that draw attention to the race or ethnicity of their bindings are generally fraudulent.
De l'imposture des diables (1579, Johann Weyer)Private collectionWeyer was a physician and occultist who criticised the early modern era's persecution of people accused of witchcraft; De l'imposture des diables was one of his works on the subject. A copy in a private collection bore a note of an "interesting but doubtful" claim by a prior owner it was anthropodermic; testing disclaimed the possibility.
Le triple vocabulaire infernal (1847, Simon-François Blocquel)Private collectionA demonology manual in the same collection as De l'imposture des diables, also confirmed inauthentic.
L'Idolatrie hvgvenote figurée au patron de la vieille payenne (1608, Louis Richeome)McWherter Library, University of Memphis A book on pagan iconography and practice in contemporary France; prior to testing, the book was traditionally mentioned by orientation guides to incoming freshmen while touring the library, "often receiving astonished gasps". Testing in 2015 found the bindings were sheepskin.
L'office de l'église en Français (1671, Pierre le Petit and Charles Angot) Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley A prayer book in Latin and French. An inscription claims the book was rebound in human skin during the French Revolution, stating it "a matter of fact" that revolutionaries ran tanneries that processed the skins of the guillotined. No evidence exists that this practice ever occurred, and testing found the book to be bound in horsehide.
Imiona Nurtu (1945, Tadeusz Borowski)Private collectionThe sole alleged anthropodermic book associated with the Nazi era was not one created by the Nazis at all, but rather one published by Holocaust survivors. Originally reported to be a copy of We Were in Auschwitz , the first published Holocaust memoir, it was in fact a copy of Imiona Nurtu, a poem by We Were in Auschwitz writer Tadeusz Borowski. The copy was gifted to fellow survivor Anatol Girs  [ pl ], Borowski's publisher, and suspected to be bound in human skin due to an unusual bruise-like pattern on the binding. Testing by the Anthropodermic Book Project revealed it was bound in rabbit skin.
Practicarum quaestionum circa leges regias Hispaniae (1605, Juan Gutiérrez) Houghton Library, Harvard University A treatise on contemporary Spanish law, one of the three purportedly anthropodermic books kept at Harvard prior to the advent of peptide mass fingerprinting and one of two confirmed to be inauthentic. An inscription claims the source of the supposed bindings was flayed alive by Zulu warriors, and that his friend, the bookbinder, was able to reclaim the skin from a "King Mbesa".
El Largo Viaje  [ es ] (1963, Tere Medina-Navascués)Bailey Library, Slippery Rock University A 1972 printing of a work of "Spanish erotic poetry" originally purchased for the library's regular collection. Years after the purchase, an inscription was discovered claiming the book was bound in the skin of a Native tribesman in Puerto Rico; it was moved to special collections for safekeeping. In 2014, it was found to be bound in artificial leather.
[3]
Metamorphoses (8 AD, Ovid) Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard University A 1597 printing of the epic poem traditionally considered Ovid's magnum opus. The book was considered anthropodermic for many years prior to its confirmation as being bound in sheepskin.
Bibliotheca Politica (c. 1693, James Tyrell)Beeghly Library, Juniata College Confirmed by peptide mass fingerprinting to be bound in sheepskin.
[3]
Quran Cleveland Public Library A copy of the Quran kept in the John Griswold White collection of the Cleveland Public Library bears a handwritten note inside that it was bound in human skin. The library was cautious about publicising the book due to Islamic taboos around body modification. In 2024, peptide mass fingerprinting confirmed it to be bound in sheepskin.

Former

Books that were formerly bound in human skin
BookLocationNotesRef(s)
Des destinées de l'ame (1879, Arsène Houssaye) Houghton Library, Harvard University The first anthropodermic book confirmed to be authentic through peptide mass fingerprinting, in 2014. Described by Bouland as bound in the skin of a woman living in a mental institution who had died of a stroke; an inscription on the flyleaf states "A book on the human soul merits that it be given human clothing". The binding on Des destinées de l'ame was removed in 2024, following a decision by the Harvard Museum Collections Returns Committee and the Harvard Library.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Our Posthuman Future</i> 2002 book by Francis Fukuyama

Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution is a 2002 book by Francis Fukuyama. In it, he discusses the potential threat to liberal democracy that use of new and emerging biotechnologies for transhumanist ends poses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice McDermott</span> American writer, novelist, essayist (born 1953)

Alice McDermott is an American writer and university professor. She is the author of nine novels and a collection of essays. For her 1998 novel Charming Billy she won an American Book Award and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the International Dublin IMPAC Award and The Orange Prize. That Night, At Weddings and Wakes, and After This were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. Her most recent novel, Absolution was awarded the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Grossman</span> Israeli author (born 1954)

David Grossman is an Israeli author. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthropodermic bibliopegy</span> Practice of binding books in human skin

Anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. As of April 2022, The Anthropodermic Book Project has examined 31 out of 50 books in public institutions supposed to have anthropodermic bindings, of which 18 have been confirmed as human and 13 have been demonstrated to be non-human leather instead.

Gjertrud Schnackenberg is an American poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Gantos</span> American author of childrens books

Jack Gantos is an American author of children's books. He is best known for the fictional characters Rotten Ralph and Joey Pigza. Rotten Ralph is a cat who stars in twenty picture books written by Gantos and illustrated by Nicole Rubel from 1976 to 2014. Joey Pigza is a boy with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), featured in five novels from 1998 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydia Davis</span> American novelist (born 1947)

Lydia Davis is an American short story writer, novelist, essayist, and translator from French and other languages, who often writes very short stories. Davis has produced several new translations of French literary classics, including Swann's Way by Marcel Proust and Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.

<i>Narrative of the Life of James Allen</i> Autobiography of James Allen

The Narrative of the Life of James Allen, alias Jonas Pierce, alias James H. York, alias Burley Grove, the Highwayman, Being His Death-bed Confession to the Warden of the Massachusetts State Prison is an autobiographical work by James Allen, published in Boston by Harrington and Co. in 1837.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Phillips</span> American writer and poet (born 1959)

Carl Phillips is an American writer and poet. He is a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2023, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Héctor Tobar</span> American journalist (born 1963)

Héctor Tobar is a Los Angeles author, novelist, and journalist, whose work examines the evolving and interdependent relationship between Latin America, Latino immigrants, and the United States. In 2023, he was named a Guggenheim Fellow in Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet McDonald</span> American novelist (1953–2007)

Janet McDonald was an American writer of young adult novels as well as the author of Project Girl, a memoir about her early life in Brooklyn's Farragut Houses and struggle to achieve an Ivy League education. Her best known children's book is Spellbound, which tells the story of a teenaged mother who wins a spelling competition and a college scholarship. The book was named as one of the American Library Association's eighty-four Best Books for Young Adults in 2002. In 2003, her novel Chill Wind won her the John Steptoe Award for New Talent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliza Griswold</span> American writer

Eliza Griswold is a Pulitzer Prize–winning American journalist and poet. Griswold is currently a contributing writer to The New Yorker and a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. She is the author of Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction and the Ridenhour Book Prize in 2019, and which was a 2018 New York Times Notable Book and a Times Critics' Pick. Griswold was a fellow at the New America Foundation from 2008 to 2010 and won a 2010 Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a former Nieman Fellow and a current Berggruen Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, and has been published in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, and the New York Times Magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phillip Hoose</span> American writer (born 1947)

Phillip M. Hoose is an American writer of books, essays, stories, songs, and articles. His first published works were written for adults, but he turned his attention to children and young adults to keep up with his daughters. His work has been well received and honored more than once by the children's literature community. He won the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, Nonfiction, for The Race to Save the Lord God Bird (2004), and the National Book Award, Young People's Literature, for Claudette Colvin (2009).

Marie K. Rutkoski in Hinsdale, Illinois is an American children's writer, and professor at Brooklyn College. She has three younger siblings. She graduated from the University of Iowa with a B.A. in English with a minor in French in 1999, and then her English M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2003 and 2006 respectively. She lives in Brooklyn with her family and two cats, Cloud and Firefly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lampshades made from human skin</span> Anthropodermic items

There are two notable reported instances of lampshades made from human skin. After World War II it was claimed that Nazis had made at least one lampshade from murdered concentration camp inmates: a human skin lampshade was displayed by Buchenwald concentration camp commandant Karl-Otto Koch and his wife Ilse Koch, said to be with other human skin artifacts. Despite myths to the contrary, there were no systematic efforts by the Nazis to make human skin lampshades; the one displayed by Karl-Otto Koch and Ilse Koch is the only one confirmed.

Peter Handke is an Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter.

List of works by or about Richard Powers, American novelist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Rosenbloom</span> American expert on human skin bookbinding

Megan Curran Rosenbloom is an American medical librarian and expert on anthropodermic bibliopegy, the practice of binding books in human skin. She is a team member of the Anthropodermic Book Project, a group which scientifically tests skin-bound books to determine whether their origins are human. Rosenbloom is the author of Dark Archives, a 2020 non-fiction book on the history, provenance, and myths about books bound in human skin.

<i>Dark Archives</i> 2020 non-fiction book by Megan Rosenbloom

Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin is a 2020 non-fiction book by the medical librarian and death-positive advocate Megan Rosenbloom. Dealing with anthropodermic bibliopegy, the binding of books in human skin, it expounds upon Rosenbloom's research on such books and their historical, ethical, and cultural implications.

Paul Needham is an American academic librarian. From 1998 to 2020, he worked at the Scheide Library at Princeton University. A Guggenheim Fellow and Bibliographical Society Gold Medallist, Needham has delivered the Sandars Readership in Bibliography at the University of Cambridge, the A. S. W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Lyell Lectures at the University of Oxford. His focus is on incunabula, the earliest printed books in Europe.

References

  1. ↑ Staff writer (20 June 2014). "The Macabre World of Books Bound in Human Skin". BBC News . Archived from the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  2. 1 2 Svoboda, Elizabeth (20 November 2020). "Book Review: The Strange History of Binding Books in Human Skin". Undark. Archived from the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Gordon, Jacob (2016). "In the Flesh? Anthropodermic Bibliopegy Verification and Its Implications". RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage. 17 (2): 118–133. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 Rosenbloom, Megan (2016). "A Book by its Cover: Identifying & Scientifically Testing the World's Books Bound in Human Skin" (PDF). The Watermark: Newsletter of the Archivists and Librarians in the History of Health Sciences. Vol. 39, no. 3. pp. 20–22. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  5. 1 2 Jacobson, Christine (30 March 2021). "A Look at Anthropodermic Bibliopegy: On Megan Rosenbloom's "Dark Archives"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  6. ↑ Oliver, Milman (28 March 2024). "Harvard University book bound in human skin removed from library". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 March 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  7. 1 2 Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Ghosts in the Library". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 168–169. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The Postmortem Travels of William Corder". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 115–130. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  9. 1 2 Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The Long Shadow of the Night Doctors". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 105–113. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  10. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Humane Anatomy". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 216–223. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The Anthropodermic Book Project's List of Confirmed Human Skin Books as of March 2020". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 229–230. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  12. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The Highwayman's Gift". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 151–154. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  13. 1 2 Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Gentlemen Collectors". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 53–54. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  14. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Gentlemen Collectors". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 49–50. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  15. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Secrets of the Sage-Femmes". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 82–85. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  16. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Gentlemen Collectors". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 55–56. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  17. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Gentlemen Collectors". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 57–62. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  18. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Under Glass". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 6–16. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  19. ↑ Meier, Allison (6 October 2013). "The Dance of Death". Atlas Obscura . Archived from the original on 31 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  20. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The French Connection". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 206–207. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  21. ↑ "A unique cover. Historical proof of the crime". Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum . 21 January 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  22. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Under Glass". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 3–6. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  23. ↑ "PINEAU, Severin (ca. 1550-1619). De interitatis & corruptionis virginum notis: De graviditate & partu naturali mulierum". Christie's. Archived from the original on 31 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  24. 1 2 Ebenstein, Joanna (16 April 2020). "Interview with Megan Rosenbloom, Author of "Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin"". The Morbid Anatomy Online Journal. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  25. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The French Connection". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 199. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  26. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The French Connection". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 200. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  27. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The French Connection". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 197–198. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  28. ↑ "Treasures Revealed: 260 Years of Collecting at the American Philosophical Society". American Philosophical Society. 2005. Archived from the original on 31 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  29. ↑ Marvin, Carolyn (1994). "The Body of the Text: Literacy's Corporeal Constant". Quarterly Journal of Speech. 80 (2): 129–149. doi:10.1080/00335639409384064. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  30. ↑ Norman, Jeremy. "Albinus & Ladmiral Issue the First Full Color Printing by the Three-Color Process to Illustrate a Medical or Scientific Book". History of Information. Archived from the original on 31 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  31. ↑ Norman, Jeremy (16 December 2011). "A Kinky Side of Book Collecting: Bindings in Human Skin". History of Science. Archived from the original on 31 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  32. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Secrets of the Sage-Femmes". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 92–93. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  33. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The Long Shadow of the Night Doctors". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 95–98. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  34. ↑ Kerner, Jennifer (2019). "Anthropodermic Bibliopegy: an Extensive Survey and Re-appraisal of the Phenomenon". Université Paris-Nanterre. Archived from the original on 31 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  35. ↑ Laing, Jemima (25 February 2011). "Book bound in human skin goes on display in Devon". BBC News . Archived from the original on 3 September 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  36. ↑ "A Skull And A Book". The British Medical Journal . 457 (457): 373–75. 2 October 1869. JSTOR   25217354 . Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  37. ↑ Staff writer (13 April 2011). "Murderer hanged in Bristol in 1821 buried". BBC News . Archived from the original on 3 September 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  38. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Echoes of Tanner's Close". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 132–133. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  39. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The Long Shadow of the Night Doctors". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 99–104. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  40. ↑ Nagy, John (2016). "The truth uncovered". Notre Dame Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 September 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  41. 1 2 Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The French Connection". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 202. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  42. 1 2 Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The French Connection". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 205–206. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  43. ↑ "Since World Book Day is today, we thought we'd share with you one of the more famous books in our library". University of Memphis Libraries. 24 April 2022. Archived from the original on 3 September 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  44. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "This Dreadful Workshop". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 35–37. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  45. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "This Dreadful Workshop". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 46–47. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  46. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "Ghosts in the Library". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 179–181. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  47. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The First Printing". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 22. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  48. ↑ Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The First Printing". Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 24–26. ISBN   978-0-374-13470-9.
  49. ↑ Zachary Smith, cleveland com (27 June 2024). "Results are in: Does the Cleveland Public Library really have a Koran bound in human flesh?". cleveland. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  50. ↑ "Bound in human skin". Houghton Library Blog. 24 May 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  51. ↑ Schuessler, Jennifer; Jacobs, Julia (27 March 2024). "Harvard Removes Binding of Human Skin From Book in Its Library". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 28 March 2024. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.