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The Macabre World Of Books Bound In Human Skin
Topic Started: Mar 27 2016, 01:36 AM (48 Views)
Webster
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BBC News: The Macabre World Of Books Bound In Human Skin

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A book owned by Harvard University library recently revealed its grisly history, when scientists confirmed that it was bound in human skin.

Staff at the university believe that the book, Des Destinees de l'Ame (Destinies of the Soul), was covered with the skin of an unclaimed female mental patient who died of natural causes. Writer Arsene Houssaye is said to have given the book in the mid 1880s to his friend, Dr Ludovic Bouland, who apparently carried out the unusual binding.

Covering books in human skin, known as anthropodermic bibliopegy, was a particular subject of interest in the 19th Century, although it is understood the practice goes back further.

One of the few surviving examples in the UK is owned by the Bristol Record Office and made from the skin of the first man to be hanged at Bristol Gaol. Its embossed dark brown cover was made with the skin of 18-year-old John Horwood, who was hanged for the murder of Eliza Balsum.

The book contains the details of the 1821 crime, when Horwood, who had become infatuated with Balsum and previously threatened to kill her, threw a stone at her while she was walking to a well to fetch water. According to the book, Horwood "took up a large stone and with the utmost savage ferocity nearly beat her skull to pieces". Balsum's screams brought her friends running, and she was taken to hospital, where she died from the head injury.

Following his trial and execution, Horwood's corpse was dissected by surgeon Richard Smith during a public lecture at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Smith then decided to have part of Horwood's skin tanned to bind a collection of papers about the case. The cover of the book was embossed with a skull and crossbones, with the words "Cutis Vera Johannis Horwood", meaning "the actual skin of John Horwood", added in gilt letters.

-Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27903742
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DrLeftover
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Another example.....


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If you have a lamp made in Germany during the years of World War Two, the shade may give you bad dreams. If you have a leather wallet or leather bound book from that era, you may want to bury it. The same is true of jewelry and some clothing, you may think twice about having them in your home.

In Germany during World War Two, leather and certain other raw material was scarce. The SS, under Heinrich Himmler found new uses for some of the 'goods' produced at some of their facilities. With the apparent blessing of the High Command, Himmler's Death's Head groups began exploiting those sent to their camps for industrial supplies. It was all the fruition of a mechanism that began operating years before. ....


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http://themediadesk.com/newfiles2/holocaust.htm


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