posted
On a daytrip to Providence during fly-out week, I stumbled across an unusual and startling artifact on display at Brown University's John Hay Library - an anatomy book bound in human skin. While such specimens are unusual, they are not as rare as you might think. Many older libraries and rare book collectors, including several at Harvard and in the Boston area, have an almost-literal skeleton in the closet: anthropodermic bibliopegy, the technical term for books bound in human skin.
posted
You know although it disturbs me a bit that I even thought of this, in a way it would be almost kinda neat if you could....have your self preserved as part of perhaps your favorite tome. Wouldn't that be a fun thing to leave to a relative.
I don't see the demand being that great though.
A. D.
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posted
*Is sick* EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Just EWWWWWWWWW. Someone tell me why I clicked that link when I'd read the intro?!
-------------------- We are all equal, be it before the eyes of God, or for our own sake. We are all worthy of the same fundamental rights, freedoms, and, protections. Mindless hatred is unjustifiable. -Squoval Posts: 320 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Interesting. In the videogame Eternal Darkness, the Tome of Eternal Darkness is bound in human skin, but I didn't know there were so many real books like that.
Posts: 86 | From: Georgia | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
no studies into the necronomicon from evil dead then?
-------------------- "there is no such thing as illegal immigrants, only illegal governments" Posts: 5 | From: Dorchester, UK | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
The University of Georgia Library used to have a book in the Special Collections section that was reputedly bound in human skin. I used to work in the library, and I've seen the book--but that was thirty years ago, and I can't remember what the title is!
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
It does sound interesting if it's voluntary. The picture of the lampshade in the article is a sad reminder of when it's not.
Posts: 229 | From: Lynchburg, VA | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Originally posted by qualli: hmm, I've specified that my tattoos are to be preserved and framed, though I suppose they would make a rather cool journal.
Maybe you could send them to Penn Jillette. He has a collection of framed tattoos...
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posted
The idea reminds me of an article I read quite a while back about an artist who used human remains in his art (after having received permission from the subjects while they were still alive). The one that sticks out in my mind is one of an hourglass filled with the ashes of a pair of boyfriends who had, I believe, both died of AIDS. I thought it was both creepy and neat, the idea of their bodies' remains mingling and pouring through each other in a work of art.
It also reminds me of a story I heard about an actor who left his skull to a theatre he performed in, to be used in Hamlet and any other plays requiring a skull for a prop. The story's supposedly true, but I can't vouch for the validity of it.
Posts: 241 | From: Land of Lincoln, IL | Registered: May 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Troodon: From the article:
"After Walton's execution, the book was delivered to Fenno and his ancestors eventually donated it to the Boston Athenaeum, where it remains today."
With going-ons like that, we have more macabre things to worry about than books bound in human skin.
I laughed at that a bit too, but you never know, could be right; maybe he still lived with his parents and they wouldn't let him keep it. You could hardly blame them for being a bit freaked out. Posts: 2352 | From: California | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Silver gets 9 points for a correct answer that I wasn't thinking of at the time. The movie I was specifically referring to was "Evil Dead 2". Ash actually uses his chainsaw very little in AoD.
Posts: 213 | From: Point of Rocks, MD | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Here is a transcript from a local news report on the human skin items at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. I remembered seeing a mention of books bound in skin and framed tattoos on their website's list of exhibits, but the site has changed around a lot and now I'm having a hard time finding it.
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Richard W
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
The book in the original article's picture is in a museum not far from me, apparently. Might go and have a look at it if I'm at a loose end one weekend.
Posts: 8725 | From: Ipswich - the UK's 9th Best Place to Sleep! | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
This may be a stupid question, but how does one know if a book is bound with human skin as opposed to pig, cow, or any other animal? If you can't run a DNA test because of the tanning process, what other resources do you have? I don't think I could tell by looking what type of animal was used to make the leather of any given product.
I guess that a tattoo would be a clue, but animals can be tattooed, too.
posted
Actually, the article has one thing wrong about human skin lampshade and human soap: both of these items are quite real. Actually, they are on display in Kiev WWII museum. Probably, more museums in CIS have those items.
Posts: 246 | From: Toronto, ON / Kyiv, Ukraine | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by beaver_slayer: Actually, the article has one thing wrong about human skin lampshade and human soap: both of these items are quite real. Actually, they are on display in Kiev WWII museum. Probably, more museums in CIS have those items.
Nizkor is generally considered as reputable, so we could possibly say that whilst there may have been isolated instances of soap and lampshades, they were never either approved by Nazi authorities nor mass-produced.
Note that most other websites on this either source from Nizkor or are White Supremicist or National Socialist sites. I admit that a single site should not be considered as conclusive, so if you can provide other citations that would not be considered as biased, then I would be certainly interested in reading them, and would be willing to change my opinion.
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quote: This reminds me of the movie "The Pillow Book".
Beat me to the punch.
GREAT movie, too.
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-------------------- High on the wind, the Highland drums begin to roll, and something from the past just comes and stares into my soul... --Mark Knopfler Posts: 3402 | From: New Bern, NC | Registered: May 2004
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posted
Ok. Fifteen years ago, at Truman University in Kirksville, Missouri, I was shown a lampshade that was allegedly made of human skin, by the Nazis, and was supposed to have been the only example of its kind in the U.S. It was in either the college museum or the library, in some setting that was opened specially for us to see it. Can anyone corroborate/refute the authenticity of that artefact?
Posts: 330 | From: New Haven, VT | Registered: Sep 2005
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If you can't run a DNA test because of the tanning process, what other resources do you have? I don't think I could tell by looking what type of animal was used to make the leather of any given product. 
