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.
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 the Red Barn Murder.
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 treatise on Spanish law. A faint inscription on the last page of the book states:
The bynding of this booke is all that remains of my deare friende Jonas Wright, who was flayed alive by the Wavuma on the Fourth Day of August, 1632. King Btesa 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.
(The Wavuma are believed to be an African tribe from the region currently known as Zimbabwe.)
The John Hay Library's special books collection at Brown University contains three human-skin books, including a rare copy of De Humani Corporis Fabrica by Vesalius.
Some early copies of Dale Carnegie's Lincoln the Unknown were covered with jackets containing a patch of skin from an African American man, onto which the title had been embossed.[1]
It was commonly believed for a time that prominent Nazis, such as Ilsa Koch, had commissioned the creation of items from the skin of victims of the Holocaust, including books and lampshades. However, no lampshades or books bound in human skin have ever been found,[2] and in the absence of evidence the claim is now held to be a propaganda fabrication. The Nazis are known to have taken and preserved individual pieces of skin, chiefly those sections displaying tattoos; several examples of such can be found within the collections of the National Museum of Health and Medicine and the United States National Archives,[2] although neither institution places these items on display.
In March, 2006 a human skin lampshade was sold for $35 to a collector in post-hurricane Katrina New Orleans. This object was verified at a DNA lab and the frame of the shade was verified as of Eastern European origin dating to 1920-1940. The full story of this object was documented in "The Lampshade" by Mark Jacobson, published by Simon and Schuster in September, 2010. -Taken From Wikipedia
The lot is so rare no reserve price has been put on it
A "spooky" image of a priest executed for treason over the Gunpowder Plot has appeared on a 17th century book thought to be bound in his skin, it is claimed.
Auctioneers said the face of Father Henry Garnet could be seen peering from the cover of the "rare and macabre" book about the Jesuit priest's death.
The item will go under the hammer at Wilkinson's Auctioneers in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, on Sunday.
Garnet, was hanged in May 1606 for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot.
Sid Wilkinson, from Wilkinson's Auctioneers, said: "It's a little bit spooky because the front of the book looks like it has the face of a man on it, which is presumed to be the victim's face."
Role disputed
The book, called A True and Perfect Relation of the Whole Proceedings Against the Late Most Barbarous Traitors, Garnet, a Jesuit and his Confederates, was published in 1606 just after his execution.
The lot is considered so unusual there is no reserve price attached to it.
Garnet's involvement in the plot to kill King James I was controversial. He claimed he knew about the conspiracy but was not involved.
Some scholars now believe he had been trying to prevent the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament rather than conspiring to kill the King.
According to legend, a piece of bloodstained straw found at the scene of his execution started to develop an exact image of the priest's face.
"HOLBEIN (Hans). Dance of Death, illustrated with Old Borders engraved on wood, with Latin Sentences and English Quatrains selected by Anatole de Montaiglon. Paris, Tross, 1856, PRINTED THROUGHOUT ON CHINA PAPER, post 8vo, appropriately bound in HUMAN SKIN, with a double of maroon morocco, enriched with three MOST WEIRD DESIGNS, executed in MOSAIC COLOURED LEATHERS, the binding specially designed and executed by the celebrated RAPARLIER. £31 10s
Raparlier is the present acknowledged master of the Bibliopegistic Art in France, and has created an entirely new school, which in point of originality is worthy of the supremacy of his country in such matters. This example is one of his masterpieces, and in time to come will rank with the most famed productions of Clovis Eve, Padeloup, Derome, and Le Monnier. The front cover of the binding, in human skin, is inlaid in orange, red, brown, white, green, yellow, and purple leathers; the back cover, in human skin, is in red, brown, green, white, yellow and pink inlay; and the double in dark brown morocco shews a crimson inlaid Gallic devil, with a ghastly grin on its white skull, dancing and beating a yellow and white tambourine." -Leonard Smithers,391 on p.87 of his Catalogue No. 3 (September 1895), "Human Skin Binding"
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