Princeton Public Library

Dark archives, a librarian's investigation into the science and history of books bound in human skin, Megan Rosenbloom

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Dark archives

bibliography

1136969460

Megan Rosenbloom

a librarian's investigation into the science and history of books bound in human skin

On bookshelves around the world, surrounded by ordinary books bound in paper and leather, rest other volumes of a distinctly strange and grisly sort: those bound in human skin. Rosenbloom seeks out the historic and scientific truths behind anthropodermic bibliopegy-- the practice of binding books in this most intimate covering. She exhumes their origins and brings to life the doctors, murderers, innocents, and indigents whose lives are sewn together in this disquieting collection. Along the way, Rosenbloom tells the story of how her team of scientists, curators, and librarians test rumored anthropodermic books, untangling the myths around their creation and reckoning with the ethics of their custodianship. -- adapted from jacket

The First Printing -- This Dreadful Workshop -- Gentlemen Collectors -- Skin Craft -- Secrets of the Sages-Femmes -- The Long Shadow of the Night Doctors -- The Postmortem Travels of William Corder -- Echoes of Tanner's Close -- The Highwayman's Gift -- Ghosts in the Library -- My Corpse, My Choice -- The French Connection -- Epilogue: Humane Anatomy -- The Anthropodermic Book Project's List of Confirmed Human Skin Books as of March 2020

Librarian's investigation into the science and history of books bound in human skin