Harvard University Library has reported that it has removed a volume bound in human skin from its collection. A copy of the 19th-century book Des Destinées de l'Ame — or Destinies of the Soul, a meditation on life after death — was found in 2014 to be bound in the skin of a deceased woman. The book apparently was in the library for 90 years without being questioned.
The University said it had removed the book and noted "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". Harvard also reported that it was consulting with French authorities "to determine a final respectful disposition of these human remains".
Previously, Harvard seemed to relish the notoriety garnered by the wide interest in the morbid story of the book, calling the 2014 discovery "good news for fans of anthropodermic bibliopegy, bibliomaniacs and cannibals alike".
The university said at the time that Ludovic Bouland, the first owner of the book written by French author Arsene Houssaye, had taken skin from the body of a mentally ill woman, who died of a heart attack, at a hospital where he worked. Dr Bouland was said to have told Mr Houssaye in a note: "A book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering."
Anthropodermic bibliopegy, the practice of binding books in human skin, was once a relatively common practice.
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