Friday, November 9, 2018

Human Skin Book Binding...!

For today's topic of Freaky Friday, I have just the thing for ya...Anthropodermic bibliopegy. That actually means using human skin to bind books. Yes, it was a real thing and it's true that it seems a bit gruesome, at least to me.



The most famous example of Anthropodermic bibliopegy comes in the form of three books. These books belonged to Dr. John Stockton Hugh, who collected the skin from the thigh of a single female patient. Mary Lynch died under horrible parasitic conditions in 1869, a full 20 years before her skin made it on the binding of these three books. The books are about female health and reproductive systems. Although the books clearly state that the binding is made from human skin, historians are unsure why the doctor, at 23 years of age, decided to keep her skin and tan it. A popular theory is that doctors bound their books in the skin of their patients to immortalize them. The 19th-century doctors were surrounded by a mess of pain, confusion, and gore. In the book “The Birth of the Clinic”, the concept of a clinical gaze was first developed. A well-known phenomenon today, doctors became disassociated with the humanity of their patients. It is theorized that this led to a skew in ethics that resulted in the human skin being a revered binding instead of a perverse indulgence.

On the other side of the spectrum, the practice was seen as a punishment for criminals. During 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland, William Burke killed over 16 people to sell to doctors as cadavers. Burke was sentenced to death, hanged and dissected publically. His skin was used to bind the dissecting doctor’s pocketbook which is now stored in the Surgeons Hall Museum in Edinburgh. There are some books that historians can’t explain. ‘The Dance of Death’ was bound in human leather at the turn of the 19th century and contains stories and meditations on the subject of death. A book of French Erotica is bound with the skin of a woman’s breast and indeed, has a nipple on the cover.

Testing for these books for validity has only been possible in recent years. Out of 46 rumored books, a mere 18 have proven to be valid. DNA testing is impossible, but scientists can deduce if the books are made from homo sapiens by testing (among other things) collagen levels. The law on these books is simple. As long as they are not displayed as points of human interest, keeping them for private museum collections and study is acceptable. These books come from all over the world, but seem to be predominantly European.

I'm not sure I would want to have a book bound with the skin of a human. I think I'll stick with my Kindle books for now.

Coffee out on the patio, but if it starts to rain, we will move to the kitchen...OK?

6 comments:

Mamahen said...

No no no! I wouldn't even want to LOOK at a book bound with human flesh, much less own one...41° and rain here this a.m...Good day to stay inside and read, a PAPERBACK:))

HermitJim said...

Hey Mamahen...
I'm totally with ya on that! Can't imagine wanting to even handle one of those books!
Thanks for stopping by this morning!

linda m said...

That is just way too creepy. Certainly not the kind of book I want in my house. Would you believe I woke up this morning to snow on the ground and falling from the sky. UGHHHHHH!!!

JO said...

I also think it disgusting, the Dr.s had a mental problem.

46 degrees here this morning had my heater turned on just in the nick of time. See you all at the patio.

HermitJim said...

Hey Kinda...
Sorry to hear about the snow, but I reckon we knew it was only a matter of time, right?
Thanks for coming over today!


Hey Jo...
Someone was definitely lacking in the mental department there.I'm glad you got the heater turned on in time.
Thanks, dear, for dropping by today!

Dizzy-Dick said...

I agree with JO, that it is just disgusting! Of course I wear boots, a vest, and a belt made from animal skin (leather). Now don't tell me that you have never had on a pair of leather shoes???