List of books bound in human skin

1487: 21: 1471: 1430: 87:

unwilling to suffer possible negative publicity if a book is confirmed as bound in human skin. Many others still remain to be tested, including those bound in the skin of executed criminals. While such books are generally treated as legitimate, due to their clear provenance compared to the mysterious or untraceable origins of most anthropodermic books, it is possible individual cases may be fraudulent. Such cases are further complicated by requests by descendants to return such books to the families, after which they may be buried or destroyed before they can be tested.

1452: 902:. The murder was discovered by Marten's stepmother Ann following a year of recurring dreams after her stepdaughter's disappearance. Following Corder's execution, his skin was used to bind his trial transcript. This book, like other books bound in the skin of criminals, is not officially confirmed; while such works are considered functionally confirmed due to their clear provenance, it cannot be ruled out that any individual copy is a hoax. 158:. He requested a copy of his printed memoirs be bound in his skin and gifted to John Fenno, a man who had resisted Allen's attempt to rob him; it is the only known anthropodermic book bound with the consent of its source. Before being bequeathed to the Athenæum, Fenno's copy was reportedly kept in the family home and used to spank his children. 1486: 90:

Themes emerge in what purportedly anthropodermic books turn out to be legitimate or illegitimate. Books that call attention to the race of those whose skin was used to bind them, for instance, generally turn out to be frauds. Most legitimate anthropodermic books were owned or bound by physicians, and

56:

emerged as a potential means of identification, but this was confounded by human handling; items frequently touched by human hands could produce false positives, as tests would pick up on their remnants. DNA testing also proved non-viable owing to the degradation of DNA over time and the acceleration

312:

Another book from Hough's collection, potentially bound by Hough himself. Though all of Hough's anthropodermic books were bound in the late 1880s, the skin used for this book seems to have been acquired shortly prior to its binding, rather than the cases of Lynch and McCloskey, who died decades

86:

Not all putatively anthropodermic books have been subject to such testing. A library or archive may decline testing if their policies prohibit any technically destructive tests; peptide mass fingerprinting requires removing a minuscule portion of the book's bindings. Other collections may be

445:, is one of very few works with multiple known anthropodermic copies. It is unclear why these copies were so bound; some have speculated they may be racially motivated, but no evidence supports the belief. Other anthropodermic books that claim racial motivations have been found inauthentic. 1035:, a fabulist and supposed member of the Spanish nobility. Peptide mass fingerprinting confirmed the binding to be pigskin. Rosenbloom gives the work as an example of how supposedly anthropodermic books that draw attention to the race or ethnicity of their bindings are generally fraudulent. 39:—the binding of books in human skin—peaked in the 19th century. The practice was most popular amongst doctors, who had access to cadavers in their profession. It was nonetheless a rare phenomenon even at the peak of its popularity, and fraudulent claims were commonplace; by 2020, the 184:. The anthropodermic copy is a nineteenth-century printing. Rosenbloom gives the book as an example of the diversity of anthropodermic books; prior to its confirmation, she and the Anthropodermic Book Project assumed there were no authentic examples of erotica bound in human skin. 1212:

A treatise on contemporary Spanish law, one of the three purportedly anthropodermic books kept at Harvard prior to the advent of peptide mass fingerprinting and one of two confirmed to be inauthentic. An inscription claims the source of the supposed bindings was flayed alive by

947:

in 1821, becoming the first person executed there. His trial transcripts were bound with his skin. Later research raised questions about whether he was innocent, and his skeleton, formerly kept alongside the book at the M Shed museum, was repatriated to his descendants in 2011.

821:. An attached label reads "The cover of this book is made of Tanned Skin from the Negro whose Execution caused the War of Independence". While it has not been subject to peptide mass fingerprinting, analysts consider the work a forgery likely made of camel, horse, or goat hide. 1106:

A book on pagan iconography and practice in contemporary France; prior to testing, the book was traditionally mentioned by orientation guides to incoming freshmen while touring the library, "often receiving astonished gasps". Testing in 2015 found the bindings were sheepskin.

657:, bound by bookbinder Ludovic Bouland reportedly in a woman's skin. Though the book has not been subject to peptide mass fingerprinting, follicle inspection in 2002 concluded it was authentic. Rosenbloom considers it authentic based on this analysis and Bouland's history. 386:

during the 1860s. The copy at Brown was sold to alumnus William Louttit Jr in 1874 and eventually bequeathed to the university; it was confirmed as anthropodermic in 2015. The other copy's fate is unclear. Reportedly added to the Belgian royal family's personal library by

317:(early printed books of Europe). Rosenbloom described the work as "like a nineteenth-century library's equivalent of a phone directory" and expressed her surprise when the book was confirmed authentic, due to its tonal dissimilarity to other known anthropodermic books. 1470: 1429: 798:. In 1992, pathologists tested the connective tissues of samples of the binding and concluded with "99 percent confidence" the book was anthropodermic. The library considers it confirmed and does not wish to submit it to further testing. 1392:

The first anthropodermic book confirmed to be authentic through peptide mass fingerprinting, in 2014. Described by Bouland as bound in the skin of a woman living in a mental institution who had died of a stroke; an inscription on the

1245:

A 1972 printing of a work of "Spanish erotic poetry" originally purchased for the library's regular collection. Years after the purchase, an inscription was discovered claiming the book was bound in the skin of a Native tribesman in

51:

in the skin. This could be combined with evidence as circumstantial as the bindings being of subjectively poor quality—taken as a sign the skin used was acquired through suspicious means. In the early twenty-first century,

1137:, stating it "a matter of fact" that revolutionaries ran tanneries that processed the skins of the guillotined. No evidence exists that this practice ever occurred, and testing found the book to be bound in horsehide. 1451: 216:, a nineteenth-century physician and bibliophile who bound three books in the skin of Mary Lynch, an impoverished young Irish émigré he autopsied in 1869 and diagnosed with Philadelphia's first recorded case of 46:

The ability to unequivocally identify book bindings as being of human skin dates only to the mid-2010s. For many years, identification tended to be visual, based predominantly on the structure of pores such as

845:, where the protagonist, a librarian at the Newberry Library, referred to its existence. Following this recognition, conservation staff who visually analyzed the book concluded it was bound in goatskin. 1190:, Borowski's publisher, and suspected to be bound in human skin due to an unusual bruise-like pattern on the binding. Testing by the Anthropodermic Book Project revealed it was bound in rabbit skin. 511:

in its sensibility. Gordon describes the book's 2015 confirmation as anthropodermic as granting "unfortunate credence to the more dubious claims of erotic works bound in skin from a woman's breast".

536:. Held by a French collector, one of the few confirmed anthropodermic works in private collections. An inscription on the flyleaf referencing the copy's anthropodermic provenance is attributed to 1063:

was one of his works on the subject. A copy in a private collection bore a note of an "interesting but doubtful" claim by a prior owner it was anthropodermic; testing disclaimed the possibility.

772:, published six pamphlets between 1736 and 1741 on subjects such as neuroanatomy, the origin of skin colour variation, and the anatomy of the penis. The printings of these pamphlets kept at the 1157:

The sole alleged anthropodermic book associated with the Nazi era was not one created by the Nazis at all, but rather one published by Holocaust survivors. Originally reported to be a copy of

1720: 716:, a 1932 reference work on French bookbinding, suggests several anthropodermic books were kept in private collections in France at the time. Photographic evidence exists for a copy of 2372: 477:

woodcuts, from 1816 and 1898 respectively, are confirmed to be bound in human skin. Reports predating peptide mass fingerprinting state that there are six anthropodermic copies.

839:

Reportedly "found in the Palace of the King of Delhi" in 1857, with a note stating it was bound in human skin. The book came to wide attention following the 2003 publication of

503:

An English translation of a French work, a tale of a man's mental breakdown following his lesbian wife leaving him; described by Jacob Gordon, special collections librarian at

924:

The ratcatcher George Cudmore was convicted of poisoning his wife and hanged in 1830; his skin was reportedly used to bind an 1852 printing of Milton's collected works.

2978: 704: 1330:

collection of the Cleveland Public Library bears a handwritten note inside that it was bound in human skin. The library was cautious about publicising the book due to

2415: 421: 741:

rumoured to be anthropodermic; none are available for testing. A Chinese copy of the New Testament reportedly bound in human skin is held by the library of the

1683: 20: 3036: 212:(midwife) to the court, shortly following her retreat from court facing pressure from male physicians. The anthropodermic copy is from the collection of 872:

1924, location now unknown. The book is described as bound in the skin of a woman called the "Countess of Saint-Angel", described by the anthropologist

2125: 1751: 2260:"Interview with Megan Rosenbloom, Author of "Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin"" 1056: 598: 355: 3003: 968: 1712: 286:, about reproduction. Speculated to be bound in the skin of Thomas McCloskey, who died in the Philadelphia General Hospital in February 1869. 2961: 2936: 2911: 2886: 2861: 2806: 2778: 2719: 2694: 2533: 2508: 2348: 2323: 2298: 2209: 2156: 2098: 2073: 2048: 2023: 1998: 1973: 1945: 1920: 1870: 1845: 1817: 1785: 334: 273: 251: 233: 201: 2830: 3069: 134: 2446: 2364: 1331: 738: 442: 3079: 3074: 2477: 1584: 1124: 2267: 2172: 2744: 2663: 2439:"Albinus & Ladmiral Issue the First Full Color Printing by the Three-Color Process to Illustrate a Medical or Scientific Book" 1646: 2226:"PINEAU, Severin (ca. 1550-1619). De interitatis & corruptionis virginum notis: De graviditate & partu naturali mulierum" 101:

connects this to changing standards of medical ethics and the relatively recent emergence of the concept of consent in medicine.

2591: 693:

have been bound in human skin. No evidence exists that any library holds or has held potential anthropodermic copies of either.

2177: 1527: 594: 576: 2558: 1911:

Rosenbloom, Megan (20 October 2020). "The Anthropodermic Book Project's List of Confirmed Human Skin Books as of March 2020".

1032: 742: 1028: 789: 737:

Several claims exist regarding copies of the Bible bound in human skin. Rosenbloom refers to three medieval Bibles in the

586: 2233: 1548: 1271: 2395: 1372: 71: 62: 967:; he and his accomplice Hare murdered sixteen people to sell their bodies to surgeons for dissection, profiting from 841: 1672: 1458: 898:

In 1827, a young woman named Maria Marten was murdered by her lover William Corder in what came to be known as the

753: 537: 307: 432: 40: 36: 3026: 1436: 1317: 1284:. The book was considered anthropodermic for many years prior to its confirmation as being bound in sheepskin. 1240: 1018: 561: 458: 436: 139: 794:

A collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century poetry bequeathed to the library in 1917 by the bookseller

3064: 2115: 1743: 665: 555: 2823:"Since World Book Day is today, we thought we'd share with you one of the more famous books in our library" 1159: 964: 213: 1101: 413:

An early anatomy manual, given by Rosenbloom as a representative example of known anthropodermic books.

392: 1401:

was removed in 2024, following a decision by the Harvard Museum Collections Returns Committee and the

1673:"A Book by its Cover: Identifying & Scientifically Testing the World's Books Bound in Human Skin" 1462: 919: 873: 773: 759: 343:. Leidy, an anatomist and paleontologist, volunteered as a surgeon and scientific researcher for the 66: 3011: 2954: