Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2024 Issue

How To Skin A Book

Harvard University has just stripped off one of its infamous books that was bound with human skin.

 

On March 27, 2024, Harvard University publicly announced they had removed the human skin from one of their books. Thus a 90-year long offence has come to an end: their copy of Des Destinées de l’âme by Arsène Houssaye (Paris, 1879) is now stripped off its infamous garment—as we say in French, la morale est sauve! Anthropodermic bibliopegy (binding books with human skin) wasn’t such a sin a few decades ago. We’ve already talked about those gruesome books in February 2017*: it was all about James Allen’s biography kept in the vaults of the private library Boston Athenaeum. The villain apparently asked some of his skin to be removed from his back after his execution so that two copies of his memoirs could be bound with it. We also know that some sick libertins had lewd books bound with the skin of women’s breasts—the nipples being the most sensational parts of it. Boys will be boys...

 

There is more than one morbid item in Harvard: “In 2022, Harvard released a report that identified more than 20,000 human remains in its various collections,Le Monde** website reports. But this one’s been put to trial 90 years later, and found guilty of failing “to meet the level of ethical standards to which (we) subscribe," Harvard stated in an official statement. The story of this binding is indeed disturbing. Unlike James Allen, the French donator never gave her consent—and even if she had, it wouldn’t have been acceptable as she was mentally ill. There’s more about it: it’s her own doctor, Ludovic Bouland, who skinned a part of her body after she died. He then sent a note to Arsène Houssaye: "A book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering." But is this actual human skin? On April 4, Michael Sauers wrote on his blog The Travelin’ Librarian:Baaaaaad news for fans of anthropodermic bibliopegy: Recent analyses of a book owned by the (Harvard) Library, long believed but never proven to have been bound in human skin, have conclusively established that the book was bound in sheepskin.” But our copy wasn’t included in those conclusions. On the contrary, Harvard stated that thorough analysis had confirmed that it was human skin. But now, what should they do with their loose piece of skin? Le Monde writes: “The university said it was consulting with French authorities "to determine a final respectful disposition of these human remains."

 

This can’t be bad news, given the circumstances. Yet, the question remains: why did they feel the urge to do such reparation after 90 years? And what’s the point? Do they believe that the soul of this poor woman had been kept in heaven’s custody because of that? Is it a moral stand—and a genuine one? If so, do they really think erasing all old evil deeds will make us any “better” people? Shouldn’t we face the past instead? Treating our ancestors like unruly children who deserve to be spanked according to our contemporary moral values is intellectual dishonesty, if not a pathetic attempt at appearing righteous. Unfortunately, destroying the symbols of collective failures is very common—the cancel culture is nothing new. In the preface of his interesting book, Houssaye quotes a maxim of La Rochefoucauld, author of Les Maximes (1664): both death and the sun are impossible to stare at—he should have added a disturbing past.

 

T. Ehrengardt

 

* https://www.rarebookhub.com/articles/2157

**https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/03/29/harvard-removes-human-skin-from-binding-of-a-book-held-for-over-90-years-at-library_6664506_4.html

 

Posted On: 2024-05-01 02:50
User Name: davereis

This is like tearing down statues. You cannot truthfully retool factual events of the past. The huge amount of cost and labor involved in maintaining a library shouldn't go boil down to attempting to destroy past events that we don't feel comfortable with. That not what a library is for. Or history, for that matter.


Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    Bibliotheca Brookeriana:
    A Renaissance Library. The Aldine Collection D-M
    18 October 2024
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Herodianus Syrus, Herodiani Historiarum, Venice, Heirs of Aldo & Torresano, 1524, Parisian binding for Jean Grolier by Jean Picard, ca. 1540
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Musaeus, Opusculum de Herone et Leandro, Venice, Aldo, 1495 (Greek text), interleaved with 1497–1498 (Latin text), English olive morocco by Charles Lewis, the Botfield copy
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Horatius Flaccus, Horatius, Venice, Aldo, 1501, Bolognese brown goatskin (between 1501 and 1503), arms of Mino Rossi and illuminated initials throughout
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Lucretius, De rerum natura, Venice, Aldo, 1500, English early eighteenth-century red morocco, the Fletcher copy
    Sotheby’s, Oct. 18: Dante, Le terze rime, Venice, Aldo, 1502, illuminated, contemporary Bolognese morocco binding
  • Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: CATESBY, MARK. 1683-1749. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. 1785-1851. The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the United States and their Territories. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: ADAMS ON HIS PEAR TREES AND A LOST PORTRAIT BY SALEM ARTIST HANNAH CROWNINSHIELD. ADAMS, JOHN. 1735-1826. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: EARLIEST MAP DEVOTED TO NORTH AMERICA. FORLANI, PAULO. fl.1560-1571. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: HAMILTON DEFENDS THE CONSTITUTION. HAMILTON, ALEXANDER. 1757-1804. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION BROADSIDE. Boston, September 14, 1768. $5,000 - $8,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: ONE OF THE EARLIEST ILLUSTRATIONS OF A SURGICAL PROCEDURE. BARTHOLOMAEUS ANGLICUS. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: RICHARD FEYNMAN'S ANNOTATED COPY, WITH TWO EARLY FEYNMAN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN COMPUTING. TURING, ALAN MATHISON. 1912-1954. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: FINE OIL PORTRAIT OF ALBERT EINSTEIN BY EUGEN SPIRO. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: PENICILLIN MOLD MEDALLION INSCRIBED BY ALEXANDER FLEMING. FLEMING, ALEXANDER. 1881-1955. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: APPLE "TWIGGY" MACINTOSH PROTOTYPE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMONSTRATION SOFTWARE. $80,000 - $120,000
  • Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    A Superb Extra-illustrated Copy of Nicolay and Hay’s Work About Lincoln. $50,000 – 70,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    The First Volume of De Bry's Great Voyages, Thomas Hariot's Description of Virginia. $50,000 – 70,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    An autographed cabinet card of Custer as lieutenant colonel. From his last sitting. $800 – 1,200.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    The Congressional Committee, Lincoln's Funeral Springfield Illinois, 3 May 1865. $4,000 – 6,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    A remarkable ninth plate daguerreotype of an interracial couple. $30,000 – 50,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    What may be the earliest known images of an identified plantation and enslaved African Americans posed with their owner. $20,000 – 30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    Through Tickets to All Principal Points West Via Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad For Sale at This Office. $500 – 700.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    15th New York Infantry / Regiment of Engineers GAR regimental colors. Ca 1880. $1,500 – 2,500.
  • Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1556. Senghor, Les Élégies Majeures. Geneve 1978.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1572. Lew Tolstoy. Anna Karenina. First Edition, Moscow, 1878.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 49. Petrarca. Das Gluecksbuch, Augsburg, 1536.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1060. Immanuel Kant, Critik der reinen Vernunft. First Edition, Riga, 1781.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 585. Bonaparte, Iconografia della fauna Italica. Rome, 1832f.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 548. Robert Fludd. Utriusque cosmi maioris, Frankfurt, 1617f.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1496. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 571. Christian von Wolff. Works, Halle 1741f.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 969. Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Dekorationen innerer Raeume. Berlin 1874.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1457. Goethe. Das Tagebuch. Print on Vellum. Berlin, Officina Serpentis. 1934.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1316. Tolouse-Lautrec. Dessinateur. Duhayon binding, 1948.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 30. Michael de Hungaria. Sermones praedicabiles, Strasbourg, 1494.
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