Human skin used to bind 19th-century books removed from Harvard library

New York:

The prestigious Harvard University said on Wednesday it had removed human skin from the cover of a book that had been in its library for more than 90 years.

In 2014, a 19th-century book called “Des Destinées de l’Ame” (also known as “The Destiny of Souls,” a meditation on life after death) was found taped to a woman’s skin.

Harvard said it had removed the binding, noting that “past failures in stewardship of the book further objectified and undermined the dignity of those whose remains were used to bind the book.”

The university said it was consulting with French authorities “to determine the ultimate appropriate disposal of these remains.”

Harvard University – widely regarded as America’s oldest university – took a keen interest in the book’s morbid story, calling the 2014 discovery “a must for anthropological philologists, bibliophiles and cannibals alike.” It’s good news.”

Harvard University said in a 2014 blog post that anthropology — the practice of binding books with human skin — was once a relatively common practice.

The university said at the time that Dr. Ludovic Bouland, the first owner of the book by French author Arsene Houssaye, took skin from a mentally ill woman who died of a heart attack at the hospital where he worked. .

Boland is said to have told Husse in one note: “A book about the human soul should have a human cover.”

In a media release Wednesday, Harvard said its management practices related to the book “failed to meet the level of ethical standards to which it is held.”

It noted that the library published a blog post after scientific analysis confirmed it was wrapped in human skin, “using a tone of sensationalism, morbidity and humor to drive similar international media coverage.”

In 2022, Harvard University released a report that found more than 20,000 human remains in its various collections, including skeletons, teeth, hair and bone fragments.

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