Anthropodermic bibliopegy
Book ( sort by year of publication ) Location ( sort by country ) Provenance ( sort by year of binding ) Binding and photographs
De humani corporis fabrica by Andreas Vesalius ( 1568 ) Providence Brown University , John Hay Library , RARE 1-SIZE QM21 .V37 1568 Bound in 1867 by Josse Schavye of Brussels for the Paris International Exposition
The Dance of death by Hans Holbein ( 1816 ) Providence Brown University , John Hay Library , N7720.H6 A43 1816 Bound in 1893 by Zaehnsdorf of London
The Dance of death by Hans Holbein ( 1898 ) Providence Brown University , John Hay Library , N7720.H6 D5x 1898 Bound between 1898 and 1903 by Alfred J. Cox ( 1835-1909 ) of Chicago and owned by Harry Selfridge Decorated with arrows , death 's heads , and knucklebones
Mademoiselle Giraud , my wife by Adolphe Belot ( 1891 ) ( English translation of Mademoiselle Giraud , ma femme , 1870 ) Providence Brown University , John Hay Library , PQ2193.B7 M313 1891
Recueil des secrets by Louise Bourgeois Boursier ( 1601 ) Philadelphia College of Physicians of Philadelphia , Historical Medical Library , Ga 168 Bound in 1887 by Dr John Stockton Hough with skin he had removed from the thigh of Mary Lynch , who died in 1869 of trichinosis in Blockley Almshouse , Philadelphia Photograph ( left )
Les nouvelles découvertes sur toutes les parties principales de l'homme , et de la femme by Louis Barles ( 1680 ) Philadelphia College of Physicians of Philadelphia , Historical Medical Library , GGa 53b Bound in 1887 by Dr John Stockton Hough with skin he had removed from the thigh of Mary Lynch , who died in 1869 of trichinosis in Blockley Almshouse , Philadelphia Photograph ( right )
De conceptione adversaria by Charles Drelincourt ( 1686 ) Philadelphia College of Physicians of Philadelphia , Historical Medical Library , GGc 15.1 Bound by Dr John Stockton Hough with the tattooed wrist skin of a man who died at Philadelphia Hospital in 1869 Slim book at top right
Speculations on the mode and appearances of impregnation in the human female by Robert Couper ( 1789 ) Philadelphia College of Physicians of Philadelphia , Historical Medical Library , GGa 33 Bound in 1887 by Dr John Stockton Hough with skin he had removed from the thigh of Mary Lynch , who died in 1869 of trichinosis in Blockley Almshouse , Philadelphia Binding and testimonial Image for non-commercial use Mutter Minute ( video ) : Book Bound in Human Skin
An elementary treatise on human anatomy by Joseph Leidy ( 1861 ) Philadelphia College of Physicians of Philadelphia , Historical Medical Library , Ad 14 Joseph Leidy 's own copy , with his note : 'The leather with which this book is bound is human skin , from a soldier who died during the great Southern Rebellion . ' Photograph ( red spine label )
Le traicté de peyne ( 1868 ) New York City The Grolier Club , Grolier Club Library , \56.3f\Kauf\1868 Bound by Kauffmann-Petit ( and signed by [ Léon ] Maillard ) ; Samuel Putnam Avery 's copy bound by Kauffmann-Petit ( ... ) in human skin , tooled in black on spine and covers ; gilt turn-ins ; marbled endpapers
Des destinées de l'ame by Arsène Houssaye ( 1880 ? ) Cambridge , Massachusetts Harvard University , Houghton Library , FC8.H8177.879dc Presented by Arsène Houssaye to the bibliophile Dr Ludovic Bouland of Strasbourg , who bound it in skin which he had removed from 'the back of the unclaimed body of a woman patient in a French mental hospital who died suddenly of apoplexy ' Front cover
Poems on Various Subjects , Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley ( 1773 ) Cincinnati , Ohio University of Cincinnati , Archives & Rare Books Library , PS866 .W5 1773 Given by Bert Smith of Acres of Books to the Department of Rare Books University of Cincinnati in the 1950s Dark brown half leather over parchment , apparently by the same binder as the Cincinnati Public Library 's copy , presumed to be Zaehnsdorf . Preservation Lab Treatment Report and photographs
Poems on Various Subjects , Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley ( 1773 ) Cincinnati , Ohio Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County , 811 W557p Given by Bert Smith of Acres of Books to the Cincinnati Public Library in 1958 Dark brown full leather , apparently by the same binder as the University of Cincinnati 's copy , i.e . Zaehnsdorf . Preservation Lab Treatment Report and photographs
Le Scarabée d'or by Edgar Allan Poe ( 1892 ) ( French edition of The Gold-Bug ) French private collection ( 2016 ) Bound by Gustave Rykers of Bruxelles ( stamped in gilt inside the front cover ( in French ) : Relié en Peau Humaine . G . Rykers . ( Bound in human skin . G. Rykers ) ) . Sold at auction in 2016 to a French private collector . Human skin confirmed in PMF analysis conducted by Dan Kirby in 2018 brown leather-backed marbled boards , raised bands , decoration of a gold bug descending front the eye-socket of a skull above a crossed sickle and shovel decoration on spine , marbled endpapers , top edge gilt
Narrative of the Life of James Allen ( Boston , Harrington & Co. , 1837 ) · Boston , Massachusetts Boston Athenæum $ 65.Al57 Bound by Peter Low in Allen 's skin , treated to look like gray deer skin ; bears the cover title Hic liber Waltonis cute compactus est , stamped in gold upon a black leather rectangle . Digitised version
Essai sur les lieux et les dangers des sépultures by Félix Vicq d'Azyr ( 1778 ) Brussels Royal Library of Belgium WBS VI 21.433 A LP ( RP ) Bound by Josse Schavye of Brussels ( end of 19th century ) . Sold by Schavye to the Belgian government in 1896 Binding decorated with skulls and crossbones . Human skin binding confirmed in October 2018 by PMF analysis · Video ( in French )
Confirmed examples
Anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. , The Anthropodermic Book Project has examined 31 out of 50 known books supposed to have anthropodermic bindings, of which 18 have been confirmed as human and 13 have been demonstrated to be animal leather instead.