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Peeling It Back:
A Brief History of
Anthropodermic Bibliopegy
One of the oldest texts associated with a confirmed human-skin binding is Le traicté de Peyne: poëme allégorique dédié à Monseigneur et à Madame de Lorraynne, or The Treatise on Pain, a BDSM-leaning erotic poem dating back to the 16th century. While the text itself is centuries old, the copy now held at the Grolier Club was printed and bound in human skin in the 19th century.
Poems, mystical texts, and even private diaries all have examples with human skin binding. But anthropodermic bibliopegy seems to have really taken off in the 19th century, when surgeons, doctors, and other medical practitioners (notably in France, England and the US) thought it most appropriate to bind medical texts in a part of the human body.
In fact, human skin binding became such a sign of prestige that knockoffs were made and sold. It wasn't until the 2010s that the authenticity of these books was scientifically tested and either confirmed or falsified.
Over time, these books have been passed down through private collections, institutions and medical libraries. A number of authenticated examples remain in American universities and medical collections.. However, other institutions have decided against pursuing authenticity testing. Perhaps sometimes, it's easier not to know.
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