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Dying to be published? It used to be possible

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Brown University's library boasts an anatomy book that combines form and function in macabre fashion. Its cover - tanned and polished to a smooth golden brown, like fine leather - is made of human skin.

In fact, a number of the nation's finest libraries have such books in their collections. Binding books in human skin was not uncommon in centuries past, even if it was not always discussed in polite society.

Brown's John Hay Library has three books bound in human skin - the 1568 anatomy text by the Belgian surgeon Andreas Vesalius, and two 19th century editions of The Dance of Death, a medieval morality tale.

One copy of The Dance of Death was rebound in 1893 by Joseph Zaehnsdorf, a master binder in London. A note to his client reports that he did not have enough skin and had to split it. The front cover, bound in the outer layer of skin, has a slightly bumpy texture, like soft sandpaper. The spine and back cover, made from the inner layer, feel like suede.

The Dance of Death is about how death prevails over all, rich or poor. As with many other skin-bound volumes, "there was some tie-in with the content of the book," said Sam Streit, director of the John Hay Library.

Similarly, many of the volumes are medical books. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia has some books bound by Dr. John Stockton Hough, who diagnosed the city's first case of trichinosis. He used that patient's skin to bind three of the volumes.

"The hypothesis that I was suggesting is that these physicians did this to honor the people who furthered medical research," said Laura Hartman, a cataloger at the National Library of Medicine in Maryland.

The Boston Athenaeum has an 1837 copy of George Walton's memoirs bound in his own skin. Walton was a robber and left the volume to one of his victims.

[Last modified January 11, 2006, 00:42:11]