Harvard University confirmed it removed the binding from a book in one of its libraries because it was made of human skin.
The 19th century book “Des Destinées de L’âme” – meaning “Destinies of the Soul” – was bound by physician Dr. Ludovic Bouland without the permission of a patient in the hospital where he worked. Dr. Bouland took the skin after the patient died.
Harvard has had possession of the book in its Houghton Library since 1934, the year after Bouland’s death. The university, known to be one of the world’s most prestigious, said the library conducted a review and found the use of human skin to be “ethically fraught.”
Further inquiries are being made to decide what to do with the human remains. Anne-Marie Eze, Houghton Library associate librarian, said the skin is now in “secure storage at Harvard Library,” during an online question-and-answer session on March 27.
Harvard apologised, acknowledging “past failures in its stewardship of the book that further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being whose remains were used for its binding.” It also said: “In 2014, following the scientific analysis that confirmed the book to be bound in human skin, the library published posts on the Houghton blog that utilized a sensationalistic, morbid, and humorous tone that [fuelled] similar international media coverage.”
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Past students became the victim of university hazing by being told to retrieve the book from the library, without being told it was bound by human skin. A review confirmed the skin was human in 2014 and according to a report in The Verge that year, Harvard said there was a note in French from Bourlain inside that read: “A book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering.”
The full note from Bourlain said the book had not been stamped to “preserve its elegance” and that by “looking carefully you easily distinguish the pores of the skin.” Bourlain also said he was in possession of the book “De integritatis & corruptionis virginum notis.” The book, which discusses female virginity, is also bound in human skin.
The binding of book with human skin is a process known as “anthropodermic bibliopegy” and increased in popularity during the 19th century. In the UK, the Bristol Record Office owned a book bound by the skin of 18-year-old John Horwood, the first man to be hanged at Bristol Gaol.
Horwood was sentenced to death for the murder of Eliza Balsum in 1821. Surgeon Richard Smith dissected Horwood’s body and used the skin to cover papers about the case, according to a BBC report. Horwood’s skeleton was discovered hanging in a cupboard by a distant relative and he was finally buried 190 years after his death.
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