Books from the human skin: features, myths and interesting facts

At all times people have actively used the skin of animals to make clothes and various household items. Linguists even believe that the very word "skin" originally sounded like a "goat". After all, the skin of this animal was excellent for dressing, and then in the hands of a skilled craftsman turned into elegant shoes or a cloak. After a while, this word began to denote the skin of all living beings, including humans. Few people now know that several hundred years ago, human skin was considered as excellent material, as, for example, pork or veal. Surprisingly, many different items were made from it, which were simply overwhelmingly demanded by aristocrats and the well-to-do bourgeoisie. The incredible demand in France, which introduced the fashion for similar products, was on the books in the covers of human skin. It's so creepy and fantastic for modern people that we decided to talk in more detail about texts and works that were immortalized on a well-crafted human skin.

History of leather products of deceased people

It seems to us an absolute savagery to make books from human skin or any other similar products, but our ancestors considered it quite normal. It is difficult to say when such an unusual material was used for the first time, but historians know of numerous cases of using human bones by the tribes of South America, Australia and Amazonia.

The fact is that these peoples considered death a kind of transition to another world, and the best way to honor the memory of the deceased was to make from their bones and skin various ritual objects. Most often they went to drums, bowls and knife handles. Thus, the deceased person continued to be part of the tribe and became a guide to the world of spirits.

Over time, humanity developed and moved away from the ancient barbarous traditions. In Europe, paganism was replaced by Christianity, which advocated a completely different attitude towards the deceased and their remains. It seemed that it would never have occurred to anyone to use the cover of a person's body as a normal material for making, for example, shoes. However, the reality turned out to be much more shocking, because in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, items made of the skin of dead people entered fashion. It is difficult to understand the fact that one of the last books bound from human skin was created in the seventies of the last century. Think about it - just over forty years ago the veil of some deceased person went to make a book! But do not think that in our modern world you will not find such a thing. Recently, the press leaked evidence that in Europe there is still an underground plant that produces shoes, belts, a purse and books from human skin. And these products, sold out at the manufacturing stage, settle in the collections of millionaires and billionaires. Whether this is so - no one knows, but concerned psychologists have already begun to study this phenomenon, making just shocking conclusions.

Lethal attraction

Modern psychology is able to deeply look into the subconscious of a person, where all his secret thoughts and desires are hidden. And in interest, for example, to books, entwined in human skin, they see a frightening tendency of changing social consciousness.

Psychologists say that at all times, interest in death was accompanied by humanity. But in each culture a certain taboo was created, which was to clearly distinguish the world of the living from the world of the dead. However, there have always been people who have a special craving for the dead - necrophils. This phenomenon was described as early as the seventeenth century and at the moment it is well studied. Science has proved that public opinion and cultural traditions create a rather strong subconscious ban that blocks most people's attraction.

But the increased interest in products made of human skin can only be evidence of one thing: a modern society has lifted virtually all internal prohibitions, releasing the most secret desires. After all, the pleasure of owning a book in the cover of human skin is akin to a necrophilic craving for a dead body.

Many experts argue that such a trend occurs only when the structure of society is destroyed. For example, during the French Revolution in the country worked factories that produce a lot of products from the skin of executed people. These objects boasted to each other, because often they left information about the person whose cover was used.

Perhaps you still think that everything we've told you is a children's scarecrow invented by impressionable journalists or writers. If you still doubt whether there are books from human skin in fact, then after reading the following sections of the article clearly see the reality of such objects.

The oldest book in the anthropodermic material

Thinking of books from human skin, we usually represent anything, but not the Bible. Agree, it's hard to believe that someone could write a sacred text for all Christians on a material that was once a part of a person. However, such a book still exists, and not only its binding is made of human skin, but also all pages.

This Bible is considered one of the most ancient, after careful analysis, scientists have established an approximate date of its creation - the third century of our era. Unfortunately, the story did not retain any information about the author of this publication and the person whose skin served as material for the book.

Interestingly, the approximate same date also contains the letters of African and Australian natives found by archaeologists. They are also printed on anthropogenical material and, together with the Bible, head our list of books from human skin.

The seventeenth century: the development of medicine

For today, books about human skin made in the seventeenth century are well known to scientists. These rare specimens are periodically found in museum expositions or in private collections. Interestingly, the fascination with such books was directly related to the development of medicine.

By the seventeenth century, this science had made one breakthrough after another, and among the townspeople the number of people who voluntarily bequeathed their body after death for scientific experiments increased. These bodies were used for a more detailed study of human anatomy, but the skin, useless for doctors, suddenly began to be used as covers or bindings for medical treatises.

Initially, only books on medical subjects were published in this form, but afterwards there appeared legal collections and even Catholic Church law.

Book of the Researcher's Skin

Not so long ago a very interesting and unusual specimen of a book from human skin was discovered. Outwardly this is an unremarkable collection of articles on Spanish legislation, but the librarians drew a slightly unusual color of the binding and an inscription on the cover, claiming that this edition is made of anthropodermic material. After several analyzes, this version was confirmed, and unusual circumstances that led to the appearance of this book were also clarified.

The fact is that in the thirties of the seventeenth century a certain Jonas Wright went on a dangerous journey through Africa. He planned to study several local tribes, but was caught by cannibals and eaten. After some time the leader of the tribe decided to return to the researcher's friend his personal belongings, and skin was applied to them, which for some reason the natives refused to use for food. Among the items was an old and worn book on Spanish law, which a friend of Jonas Wright decided to twist the leftover from the researcher's skin.

The French Revolution: the introduction of fashion products from human skin

The eighteenth century was marked by a series of bloody events in Europe. Every day in Paris, several hundred people were executed, whose bodies could not be buried. This fact was the reason for the discovery in the nineties of the eighteenth century in the French capital of a small factory for the manufacture of human skin. From it, various products were manufactured, which aristocrats bought up in no time. It was considered very prestigious and fashionable to boast among friends such a rare and very expensive thing.

This monstrous, by the standards of modern man, the trend was preserved in the nineteenth century. Only now the donors of the skin were murderers, executed for numerous crimes, and those who independently decided to give a piece of themselves after death to certain people. The story of a young man from Russia, who was amputated after an injury, is widely known. He asked the doctors to remove the skin from his limbs, and after making it, it became the material for the binding and the cover of the collection of poems of his own composition. This unusual book, he gave a girl who was without love for several years already.

Pied Piper's Book

In the thirties of the nineteenth century, the Pied Piper from England named George Cudmore was executed for the murder of his own wife. Poor he poisoned with arsenic and dug in the garden. Kadmore's skin was bought by one of the wealthy book dealers and made of it a binding for a poetic collection.

It is interesting that in the book itself it is indicated who exactly became the donor of the anthropodermic material, and also what crimes led him to death in prison dungeons.

Gift to the astronomer

In the nineteenth century, the most popular astronomer of his time lived and worked in France. Camille Flammarion - so his name - published many of his scientific works, which were read not only by men, but also by enlightened ladies.

His books became a consolation for the Countess dying of tuberculosis. She often distracted from her illness, reading the works of Flammarion, so she bequeathed the author her skin after death.

It is interesting that the astronomer never even met a girl, but with gratitude accepted her gift. His next book was made in the leather cover of the French countess. On the reverse side was an inscription stating that this specimen was made of a woman's skin.

Memoirs of a Thief

Approximately in the middle of the nineteenth century, a rather strange story occurred, as a result of which appeared another book of human skin. The American bandit James Allen lived at the expense of people who were robbed. But one day the next victim managed to give him serious resistance and, despite the gunshot wound, led the robber to the police station.

Once in prison, James began to write memoirs and bequeathed after death to use his skin for binding them. Even more unexpected for all was the fact that this unusual specimen, according to the testament of the criminal, was to get to the man who detained Allen.

Erotic poetry

One of the most famous copies of books from human skin was written in the seventies of the last century. It is dedicated to the Spanish erotic poetry and is currently kept in the Bailey library.

On the book itself it is indicated that the skin for the cover was the skin of a representative of one of the indigenous tribes, who usually keep it after the death of their relatives. As a result, each family accumulates a sufficient amount of skin, periodically falling into the black markets. And from there she goes to various workshops scattered all over the planet.

Where books from human skin are stored

Surprisingly, such specimens can be found in many major libraries around the world. Just imagine that such a book can be taken advantage of by any student or specialist in one or another field who wants to improve his qualifications.

For example, in Harvard, three such books are found. However, the staff of the university library does not rule out that there are actually more of them. Of course, it is almost impossible to find out without special analyzes, which are unrealistic with all fifteen thousand books at Harvard. It is interesting that the employees of the library are not going to exclude specimens from human skin from their funds. They continue to be issued to students.

It is also known that such books are kept at the Observatory in Juvisia, the library of Exeter and in the Boston Literary Foundation. We think that this is not a complete list of places where one can find rare specimens from anthropo- dermic material. Many private collectors never spread their treasures, so they are hidden from the world.

From our article, anyone becomes aware that books from human skin are a reality, not a fiction or a myth. No matter how we relate to this phenomenon, it was present in the life of our ancestors for centuries and continues to exist until now. Although most people believe that such things are the place in museums, and not on library shelves and in the secretories of millionaires.