Harvard University recently made a chilling discovery, uncovering that a book in their library was bound with the skin of a deceased woman from the 19th century. The book, titled "Des Destinées de l’Ame" (Destinies of the Soul), was authored by French novelist Arsène Houssay and has been housed in Harvard's library since 1934. Even more ghoulish, its first owner, a French doctor named Dr. Ludovic Bouland, disturbingly used the skin of an anonymous dead patient to bind the book without her consent.
Harvard University has now taken action to remove the binding and launch research into the book's history. Reflecting on their 2014 response to the book which said, “Good news for fans of anthropodermic bibliopegy, bibliomaniacs and cannibals alike,” the school said has now offered an apology for “failures in our stewardship of the book that further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being at the center.”
Source: NY Post