Harvard library removes human skin from book binding

[BetteDavisEyes]

Harvard Library removes human skin from book binding

A French physician "bound the book with skin he took without consent from the body of a deceased female patient," according to a Harvard Library statement.

www.nbcnews.com

Harvard University removed human skin from the binding of "Des destinées de l'âme" in Houghton Library Wednesday after a review found ethical concerns with the book's origin and history.

French physician Dr. Ludovic Bouland “bound the book with skin he took without consent from the body of a deceased female patient in a hospital where he worked,” according to Harvard Library.

Bouland included a handwritten note inside stating "a book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering,” said associate university librarian Thomas Hyry. The note also detailed the process behind preparing the skin for binding...

 

[Chimera]

Oh my goodness.
He could have used sheep or pig skin ?

 

[ifindedout]

Presumably Dr. Bouland won't be facing any kind of sanctions, as he died over 90 years ago.

What is the status of the book bound in human skin at Harvard? - Ask a Librarian

ask.library.harvard.edu

Houghton Library is the steward of a copy of Arsène Houssaye’s Des destinées de l'âme, a meditation on the soul and life after death first published in 1879. The volume’s first owner, French physician and bibliophile Dr. Ludovic Bouland (1839–1933), bound the book with skin he took without consent from the body of a deceased female patient in a hospital where he worked as a medical student in the 1860s.

Edited to de-italicize the book's title

 

[Sleuth5]

I’m all for artistic expression, but this is just 31 flavors of wrong.

 

[Anrie]

Honestly? Just leave the skin on the book. What does removing it achieve at this point?

 

[cuffem]

Honestly? Just leave the skin on the book. What does removing it achieve at this point?

Well with it having directions, keeping it will make others assume it is an accepted practice.No respect for the deceased or family and could cause the book to attract morbid collectors. JMO