Some of nation's best libraries have books bound in human skin

[sugarimp]

By 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.

But here's its secret: the book is bound in human skin.A number of prestigious libraries --

Comments

[billydontrat]

I wonder if the author of the article is a fan of "Evildead"?

[min0taur]

I dunno. Sounds like academic folklore to me. Just plausible, though; for an era that was so squeamish about bodily matters, the 19th century -- especially the Victorians -- did some bizarre things with human remains (for example, electroplating dead infants and putting them on display in glass coffins that served as coffee tables). But (dead Pharaohs aside) human tissue isn't all that, well, durable. Apparently Jeremy Bentham had his body taxidermied and mounted after death (figuring it shouldn't go to waste, but begging the question of whether Utilitarian philosophers warrant statues); alas, it kept falling apart. Embarrassing. And then there's the matter of how to maintain the binding -- Lubriderm? (Just asking. And kidding.)

[_boneflower_]

An anatomy book bound in human skin. How ironic!

I may be morbid, but I think this is pretty cool. It reminds me of the modern-day doctor-turned-artist who plasticizes parts of cadavers (with their permission) for living sculpture.

O_o

[thorny_rose]

That's somethin else.