Book Found In Harvard University Library Is Bound With Human Skin

Caveat Lecter–tests prove book is definitely bound in human skin http://t.co/BX2Bhsea4x @HoughtonLib pic.twitter.com/bzMrzb9Sak

— The Harvard Library (@HarvardLibrary) June 4, 2014

 

It’s reading matter not for the faint of heart. Experts at Harvard said this week that they have confirmed that a 19th-century book housed in one of the university’s libraries is bound in human skin. Scientists and conservators carried out a series of tests on Houghton Library’s copy of the French writer Arsene Houssaye’s “Des destinees de l’ame” and concluded with 99.9% confidence that the binding material came from a human. According to the library, Houssaye presented the text, described as “a meditation on the soul and life after death,” to one of his friends, a book-loving medical doctor, in the mid-1880s. The recipient, Dr. Ludovic Bouland, bound the book “with skin from the unclaimed body of a female mental patient who had died of a stroke,” the library said. Bouland left a note in the volume explaining what he had done. “A book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering,” he wrote.

 
It’s the human skin renaissance! Just like neon, it’s back in style baby! Told you guys human skin was a hot commodity, a valuable investment for the future. Is there anything I don’t do? Just firing out great investment advice day in and day out. I hope someone paid attention. It’s like the 1849 gold rush all over again. And as usual, I’m ahead of the curve. Playing skin when you’re all playing polycotton.