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Thursday, July 16, 2009

Books Let's See a Kindle Do That*

Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 2:24 PM

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?

Comments (16) RSS

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Was this something the Nazis dreamed up?

Posted by arts&letters on July 16, 2009 at 2:32 PM

The Nazis weren't terribly original, I'm afraid.

Posted by keshmeshi on July 16, 2009 at 2:59 PM

i'm a fan of anthropodermic bindings, i believe the harvard and brown university libraries both hold quite a few.

Posted by Josh Bomb

on July 16, 2009 at 3:02 PM

Be careful, the scary-looking mouth on the front of that book might come alive and bite your hand.
The one that you didn't chop off after it became possessed, anyway.

Posted by Frank N. Christ on July 16, 2009 at 3:04 PM

"Klaatu. .. Verada. .. Necktie."

Posted by jackie treehorn on July 16, 2009 at 3:13 PM

I'm no Kindle expert but I believe the reason they don't bind them in human skin is in no way due to a limitation of the e-book technology. To imply that this is a point in favor of paper books smacks of, frankly, desperation.

Posted by elenchos on July 16, 2009 at 3:36 PM

Is it penned in blood? I'll get my boom-stick.

Posted by The Amazing Jim

on July 16, 2009 at 3:36 PM

I like the idea of biography (or autobiography for that matter) published posthumously and bound in the skin of it’s subject.

Posted by North American Speckled Fleebeedoo on July 16, 2009 at 3:48 PM

http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/highwayma…

They don't keep it on regular display. I'm angling for a tour later this year where a group of us can see it.

I'd still rather go to Seattle and see Garfunkel and Oates.

Posted by amybang on July 16, 2009 at 3:53 PM

These folks are behind the curve. I happen to be in possession of a work of literature wherein the ink with which it was printed features the actual blood of a musical combo!

Posted by McGee on July 16, 2009 at 4:25 PM

While in law school I worked in the rare books section of the main university library and we had centuries old books bound in human skin.... very creepy. The cover had curled back on one of them - I imagined it to be a pain reflex but it simply was a bad reaction to changing humidity long ago. We're all just talking meat, anyway.

Posted by Jaymz on July 16, 2009 at 4:59 PM

@ 11,

Not to the person who lost his/her skin.

Posted by yucca flower on July 16, 2009 at 5:43 PM

@12, it used to be, the person didn't lose their skin until they died of natural causes. Most anthrodermic bindings were volunteered, back in the day, when scholars would will their skin to be used in binding their own work after they died. Unfortunately, Nazis did end up giving the practice a bad name.

Not only is this a fascinating subject to research, but it makes for a really great browser history on your work computer.

Posted by Fangdoc on July 16, 2009 at 7:39 PM