Harvard University removes human skin binding from 19th century book
Harvard University has removed human skin from the binding of a 19th Century book, according to various outlets including the BBC . Des Destinées de l'Ame is a meditation on the soul and life after death, written by Arsène Houssaye in the mid-1880s. He gave the book to his friend Dr. Ludovic Bouland who felt that such a meditation on the soul deserved to be encased in human skin, and took the skin from an unclaimed woman who had died from natural causes. Harvard released a statement saying, "After careful study, stakeholder engagement, and consideration, Harvard Library and the Harvard Museum Collections Returns Committee concluded that the human remains used in the book's binding no longer belong in the Harvard Library collections, due to the ethically fraught nature of the book's origins and subsequent history." Apparently, the book (housed in Houghton Library) was used in hazing rituals where ...