Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-03-21
BOOKS BOUND IN HUMAN SKIN.


Volume Enshrined in the Epidermis OF
"A Beautiful Countess.
Some of the French bibliophiles
have caused a number of volumes to
be bound in the skin of human beings.
Might not these weird literary treas
ures be designated in very literal
sense as human documents?" A Pa
risian trade paper devoted to the leath-
er industry declares that the skin of
human being is admirably adapted
for book binding, that it is finely
grained, of excellent quality, and dura-
BILE besides. In England DR.. Anthony
Askew caused a book on anatomy to
be covered with the skin of a notorious
sorceress who was executed for muir
der. In the catalogue of the library
of NJ. M. l.. Veydt, minister of finance
of Belgium, attention was called to
book entitled PHILOSOPHY and Litera-
ry Opuscules," covered with human
skin; the price was not prohibitory,
being only 20 francs In the Biblio-
theque Imperiale, Paris, may be seen
Bible of the 18th century bound in
the epidermis of woman. A copy
of Eugene Sues Mysteries of Paris
was enclosed in similar ghastly
binding. A plate inside the volume at
tests the fact.
Strange to say, there is sentimental
side to this weird fancy. A charming
French countess, of extraordinary
beauty, whose shoulders ELECTED ex-
carnations of admiration from Flam-
marion, Frances author astronomer,
rewarded the devotion of her admirer
by leaving him, as precious legacy,
the skin from those same lovely
shoulders, to do with as he pleased.
Wishing to have it within his reach,
he sent it to tanner, who prepared it
in the accepted manner. With the gal
lantry worthy of a Frenchman. the
renowned astronomer caused volume
of an edition de luxe of his "Terre ct
Ciel'' to be covered with the adorable
epidermis of the sprightly countess.
The edges of the leaves are of blood
red, sprinkled with golden stars On
the dedication page one may read:
Souvenir dune Morte."
Even a more gnoulish idea was that
of lawyer, M. Edmund Leroy, who
caused the works of Delille, the tran
slator of the "Georgics." to be covered
with the poets own skin. Mr.. Leroy
was present when the body was en-
balmed, and bribed the undertaken to
strip off a portion of the dead mans
epidermis. In these lugubrious frag-
ments his writings were preserved.
L. H., h.
library of Valenciennes, France.
There are few specimens of bind
ings of human skin in the United
States. A bibliophile in Cincinnati
owns couple of volumes one, Sterne's
Sentimental Journey" done up in the
dusky skin of a negress; the other,
"Tristram Shandy," covered with the
skin of a Chinese woman.
Not only has the skin of human be-
ings been occasionally employed by
the bookbinders, but that of almost
every animal known to the naturalist
The monkey, the crocodile, the ape,
the dog, the horse, the panther, the
wolf, the elephant, the cat and the
mole have all been subservient to the
fantastic fancies of book lovers. For
instance, a book on hunting, brought
out in London, was bound in doe skin;
book on dogs in dog skin, etc., etc.
Realism in book binding may be
carried too far. 1t gives one a curl
GUS sensation consciously to finger the
tanned cuticle of departed person.
Were the reader superstitious, he
might fancy that the spirit of the
defunct would rise up and haunt him
for the Observation-Disclosures de Mon
taign, in the New York Post.