Finely grained and delicately textured, the colour of the leather binding is a dirty fawn flecked with spots of darker pigment. The pages are edged with gold, as are the margins of the leather where it has been folded over into the inside of the cover. When I open the book, the first thing I see is an inscription, underlined and in a neat flowing hand: Bound in human skin.
Jacket Copy does fine work linking to the above story and then going on a tangent about books bound in human skin. They even found a book listed on ABE Books that claims to be bound in flesh. Aurora Alegre del dichoso dia de la Gracia Maria Santissima Digna Madre de Dios, by Francisco Antonio de Vereo, is available from a Texas bookseller and can be purchased for $16,895. For the man who has everything.
*Or would that be a Skindle?
