I cannot say that I have given anthropodermic bibliopegy much thought but the practice of using human skin as a form of binding for a book has recently been in the headlines when Harvard University announced that it was removing the binding from the copy of, appropriately enough, Des Destinées de l’Ame they have held since the 1930s.
The book, written by Arsène Houssaye in the 1880s, a meditation on having a soul and life after death, came into the possession of a physician, Ludovic Bouland, who then bound the book with skin taken from a dead female patient. We know what her destiny was.
The ethical dilemma, of course, is that the skin was removed without her consent. That said, whether we are buried or cremated our skin disintegrates and with the passage of time, Harvard’s point seems a little moot.
As we are encouraged to give hope through our death by agreeing to donate organs, perhaps this form of consent should be extended to our skin. I rather fancy the idea of a smart row of leather bound books being bound with my gnarled and wrinkly skin. Now, where is my will?
windowthroughtime 