Evil Librarians League

Last week, as part of my "Intro to the Library and Information Profession" class here at Syracuse University, we went as a group to the library and were able to view (and in some cases, handle) a variety of interesting books in the special collections. We saw some great stuff (a 500 year old atlas comes to mind--I love maps!) but the most memorable item of the day was one we didn't even get to see.

I texted my friend J.P. "They have books bound in human skin here!" His response: "What kind of librarian are you trying to become?" I of course informed him that I was in the process of becoming an evil librarian (insert maniacal laughter.) Our texted conversation continued as I climbed into bed, at which point he asked me what kinds of books would be bound in human skin.

Oh goodness. This, I think, is in part what led me to this profession in the first place. I have to know everything. I couldn't go to sleep now. That was a great question! I climbed out of bed and did some research.

Anthropodermic Bibliopegy. It turns out that many different kinds of books were bound in human skin. A "common" use would be for anatomy textbooks or other books related to the medical profession (and in these cases, the skin was often donated for this purpose.) Sometimes books about the crimes and/or trials of death-row criminals were bound in their own skin. Anthropodermic bibliopegy was also apparently practiced on the victims of the French revolution (and I would be willing to bet that those skins weren't willingly donated...)

Most of this information, by the way, was gleaned from a really great article from the Harvard Law Record, "Books Bound in Human Skin; Lampshade Myth?" by Dan Alban.

This topic is interesting of course because of its macabre nature. I love that stuff (A couple of my more memorable trips were to the Bodies Exhibit in New York City and the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia.) It is interesting on a deeper level, though, in that it raises the issue of relative comfort level with regard to death. In the past, when death was something people saw all around them, a book bound in human skin would be a neat curiosity, but not so appalling as to keep people from doing it. These days, when death is tucked neatly away in the halls of antiseptic hospitals, if you wanted to bind a book in human skin you may actually have to be an evil librarian.