This may seem like a morbid question, but I'm...

bowtiesarefantasticallonsy-deac asked:

This may seem like a morbid question, but I'm curious. Does the Smithsonian have any books bound in human skin in its collection? And if so, does the care of these books differ from that of books bound in more traditional materials?

smithsonianlibraries Answer:

Alas, we do not (that we know of!). But Harvard’s houghtonlib does. Check out their blog post about it here.

BTW, the term for binding in human skin is anthropodermic bibliopegy.

Follow up! Our rare books cataloger (Diane Shaw) pointed out this item in our collection. She says:

The volume has a leather panel stamped in Latin, “Hic liber femineo corio convestitus est” which means “This book is bound in a woman’s skin.” There is a vague letter from the binder to the doctor who commissioned it probably in mid 19th century Brussels. However, the volume is large and shows no signs of things like being pieced together, and the pore size/arrangement is typical leather.

Past conservators have thought it was more likely pig or cow, but it has not be analyzed further (and probably should be!). So, the updated answer is maybe, but probably not.

ama preswk conservation bookbinding