Harvard Library Confirms Book is Bound in Human Skin
Posted on June 5, 2014
The Harvard Library ran tests that confirm a book in the library is bound in human skin. Samples were taken from various locations on the binding of the book and analyzed in the lab. The book is a copy of Des destinees de l'ame by French novelist and poet Arsene Houssaye.
The description of the book on the Harvard Library website says, "Bound in human skin, taken from the back of the unclaimed body of a woman patient in a French mental hospital who died suddenly of apoplexy." Harvard's Senior Rare Book Conservator Alan Puglia says they are 99% confident that the binding is of human origin.
The samples from the book binding were analyzed by peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF). The first results eliminated parchment sources such as sheep, cattle and goat. It was consistent with humans and other primates. The samples were then further analyzed using Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LCMSMS). After the results of this test the Harvard researchers were convinced the book is bound in human skin.
Bill Lane, the director of the Harvard Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Resource Laboratory, says in a statement, "The analytical data, taken together with the provenance of Des destinees de l'ame, make it very unlikely that the source could be other than human."
Harvard notes in a release that the gruesome late 19th century book binding was not an isolated incident. Harvard says in a release, "This was not the gruesome pastime of just one individual; there are many accounts of similar occurrences in the 19th century, in which the bodies of executed criminals were donated to science, and the skins given to tanners and bookbinders."
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