A strange question passed through the biblio support queues a few years ago: “Do you have any books bound in human skin?”
okay then. were they serious? was this a trick? How should such a query be answered? a quick search online gave me a clue on how to respond professionally. “While we offer books in a variety of unusual bindings, none of our booksellers list existing copies for sale.” they seemed satisfied enough.
You are reading: Skin books for sale
then why would anyone choose to bind books with human skin? get together, children. Let’s talk about anthropodermic bibliopegy.
one of the (thankfully) few books verified to be bound in human skin includes de humani corporis fabrica libri septem, translated as on the cloth of the human body. It was written by Andreas Vesalius in 1543. It is a beautiful and haunting work.
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On the Structure of the Human Body is a work of science and art, and is one of the most important scientific achievements of the Renaissance. Vesalius dedicated the first edition to Emperor Charles V, and even became part of his court, cementing the book’s cultural and monetary value for centuries to come. It was so well received that Vesalius published a second edition in 1555, and over 700 copies still exist. (and a digitized version here: http://vesaliusfabrica.com/en/original-fabrica/the-art-of-the-fabrica/newly-digitized-1543-edition.html…)
Which brings us to the human skin part of the thread. josse schavye used human skin to bind a copy in the cloth of the human body for presentation at the 1867 international exhibition in paris. the provenance of the skin itself is unknown.
That copy is in the special collections department of the John Hay Library, the second oldest library on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Even more interesting is that the library has three other books bound in human skin. they tested the books in 2015 and confirmed that the binding material was human or a closely related primate. Naturally, access to these books is restricted to those who use them for academic research in order to keep the books and their bindings secure. if you have an invisibility cloak, it can be useful.
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The origins of human skin used for binding can be difficult to confirm, and the people whose skin was used may not have consented. of the confirmed human-bound books, most of the “donors” were soldiers, hospital patients, or executed prisoners.
We know of a book bound in the skin of the author with his enthusiastic consent. A copy of James Allen’s Life Narrative, bound in James Allen’s skin, can be found at the Boston Athenaeum. The book itself is his deathbed confession to a life of crime and Allen asked to be introduced to a man he tried to rob and had been impressed by. james allen sounds like a very weird guy. here’s a non-human skin-bound copy of that article to check out.
But let’s turn our attention back to On the Fabric of the Human Body. Many copies still exist that you can own without fainting every time you look at it. Facsimiles can be found at reasonable prices, and if you find yourself in the market for an original, yeah, we’ve got you covered. Raptis Rare Books has a first edition listed on Biblio.
The practice of bookbinding is fascinating and intricate, and an art in itself. For less hardcore bibliophiles, you can find books bound in leather, vellum, and even sealskin (here’s our guide to leather bindings). and of course, for those who aren’t morbidly fascinated by things like we are, you can always find books bound in plain, good, old-fashioned paper. keep reading!
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