Anthropodermic bibliopegythe binding of books in human skinpeaked 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.
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 qualitytaken 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. 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. 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. Ten years later, Harvard University removed the book's anthropodermic bindings due to ethical concerns.
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. 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.
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.
Confirmed + Books confirmed through peptide mass fingerprinting Book Year Author Location Notes 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 AnonymousGrolier ClubA 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 BoursierCollege of Physicians of PhiladelphiaA compilation of contemporary folk remedies by Boursier, the (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 BarlesCollege of Physicians of PhiladelphiaAnother 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 CouperCollege of Physicians of PhiladelphiaAnother book from Hough's collection believed to be bound in Lynch's skin. De conceptione adversaria 1686 Charles DrelincourtCollege of Physicians of PhiladelphiaHough'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 nationaleVan Pelt Library, University of PennsylvaniaAnother 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 LeidyCollege of Physicians of PhiladelphiaOne 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 VesaliusJohn Hay Library, Brown UniversityA "text on human dissection"; two reportedly anthropodermic copies were bound by 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 GibsonHuntington LibraryAn early anatomy manual, given by Rosenbloom as a representative example of known anthropodermic books. Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral 1773 Phillis WheatleyCincinnati Public Library; University of CincinnatiA 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 YoungerJohn Hay Library, Brown UniversityTwo 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 BelotJohn Hay Library, Brown UniversityAn 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 PoePrivate 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'AzyrRoyal Library of BelgiumMentioned in Rosenbloom's list of confirmed anthropodermic books, without further detail. Nazi photo album UnknownAuschwitz-Birkenau State MuseumA 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.
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